One of a Kind
by Black Tailed Saiyaness
Summary: Katrina knew she was not normal, and she had the black tail and telepathy to prove it. One day she is taken by Piccolo who decides to train her for the arrival of the saiyans. Based on the Saiyan Saga. First book of the series.
1. Chapter 1

Hi and welcome to my first book of the Black Tailed Saiyans series. I am Kat, the author and creator of the Black Tailed Saiyans. I started this story some time ago and since then I've been making some changes since I couldn't do them before. All thoughts and telepathic communication are in _italics_ now instead of these (' '). ...That's basically it for changes ::anime sweatdrop:: So yeah, I hope you will enjoy my series (if you can tolerate it) and if you do enjoy it, please leave a review. Thanks a bunch!

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**One of a Kind**

Katrina's Story

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**Chapter 1**

**Sunrise.** It always seemed the same, but to one who watched it everyday with no purpose, it seemed different. There was no drum roll, no clapping of the cymbals, no gentle violins or cellos. Everything was silent. It was like for one moment, the entire planet Earth began to appreciate the simple things in life and didn't take everything for granted.

Then of course, everything went back to normal. The golden flames began to lick the grounds, and then finally they began to spread. First was the countryside of the gentle rolling hills and the grassy plains. Next were the small suburbs, quiet and peaceful with just enough excitement to perk up the residents. Then the flames began to get out of control until they spread to the concrete sidewalks, the silver and grey pavement, the blacktop, the glass, and the metal until finally, everything was caught in a blaze. That's when everyone woke up.

Everyone... except for the one who was already awake. She enjoyed night the best, when everything was as dark as her soul, as her clouded mind. It was so peaceful that she could actually believe that there were some people out there that were open minded and intelligent, that people that could actually care about her instead of pushing her away.

_But that'll never happen._

Slowly, the six foot three inch girl stepped out of her bed. She dragged her feet lazily towards the window and shut the blinds as she did every morning.

About a half hour later, she was clean, dressed, and about as ready as ever to face the repetitious morning. She was about to grab the handle of her door when she realized that she was missing something. Quickly, she ran to the bathroom and pulled out the only bandages that would hide the abnormal scars on her cheeks. Making sure that her choker necklace was set right and that everything else was fine, she made her way out of her dorm room and towards the staircase.

The usual crowd was outside and, with her sensitive ears, she picked up their sudden silence as she passed by. She clenched her fists to suppress the gut feeling that she had been getting lately by thinking about what she would do when she got out of here. No one would want her working for them, so she'd have to find a way to—

"Well, well, well. Look who it is, fellas. Miss _Pussy_-Kat is on the prowl."

She didn't stop.

"Hey! Hey! Look at this! Are you on the hunt or something?" She felt a tight grip on her shoulder. "C'mon, you gotta problem with talking to us?"

That did it. She stopped and grabbed the hand that clenched her shoulder. With a simple squeeze, he let go and shook his hand to get the feeling back into it.

"Back off, Zalo." She hissed. "I don't want to have to break that pretty little nose of yours again." She started to walk but Zalo decided to play the shoving game.

She hit the ugly tan wall, but not hard enough to hurt her. She immediately knew that they were not going to back down. She dropped her book bag to her side and put her fists up. "Guess you want more than your nose broken this time, huh Zalo?" She asked.

"Well see about that. Boys!!" He called, and his loyal friends shifted to his side. They were all mostly six foot, no problem for a six foot three girl, but two were going to be a big problem. Zalo was the second tallest at a height of six foot six inches. He had the muscular build to back it up too. Ange was the tallest, but one of the lesser members because of his stupidity. He wasn't muscular, but he was sure as hell bulky. It would be hard to manage a hit because of all the blubber, but she knew his capabilities.

Quickly, after analyzing her chances, she ran and aimed for Ange first. Leaping into the air, she managed to land a kick on his head. He instantly flew backwards and skidded for a few feet afterwards. He was out cold.

Crash and Burn were the next to go. They were the younger twins, but she new that they always brought switch blades to each fight, just in case. With a few punches and a swift kick, they were down.

Zalo and the last three, whom she liked to call Huey, Luey and Duey, decided to try a new approach: the leap frog. They all tried to pounce on her from their corners, but she managed to get some big air before they all fell to the ground. She landed back down a few feet away. When she turned around, they were all tied in a knot on the ground.

She chuckled and went back to get her back pack, but suddenly she felt like she was being crushed into a cube. Ange was actually awake, and bear-hugging her in an attempt to stop her from leaving.

Zalo and the other three removed themselves out of the knot, and Zalo stepped over towards her. "Well now, who's going to break whose bones?" He sneered before landing a hard punch in her gut. She gasped for air and spit out a few drops of blood from the blow, and it seemed that Ange was holding her tighter.

Zalo smacked her around for a few more minutes, leaving her bruised and battered. Ange let go of his hold and she dropped down to the floor like a rag doll.

They all snickered at the scene and left her.

She didn't move, and continued to stay still for a few minutes. Then suddenly, her eye sight did not go black. Instead, all she saw were shades of red.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

She could remember everything like it happened yesterday, when in fact they were the yesterdays of passed years. She could remember when she was just a child and living in this same building. She was about two or three years old when she was brought here, and back then she had a pretty good memory of her mother and father. But now, she didn't have anything of them.

Except for her abnormalities that they gave her at her birth. The scars—which in fact were not scars—that lined her cheeks, the strange symbol on her neck, and there was the final thing that gave her the nickname "Kat": a long, slender, black tail. It was unique, yet hideous at the same time. She could control it like her arm or leg, but it was also extremely sensitive.

She could remember the first time someone actually pulled her tail. She couldn't remember what had happened afterwards, but she remembered waking up and feeling satisfied with herself. As for the kid who pulled her tail...well... she never saw him again.

She could also remember getting strange looks when she would talk to people. She never understood why until one day she realized that sometimes their mouths weren't moving but she could still hear their words. She was a telepath and whether she got it from her parents or not, she was still known as a freak.

Suddenly, something seemed to click in her mind. She looked around and noticed that she wasn't in the same room as before. She was downstairs now, close to the cafeteria. Her head began to throb and her muscles ached from an unknown tension.

She suddenly heard a few screams towards her left and saw that they were shrieking at her. She was confused at first, but then after taking a thorough look around, she saw that they were not screaming at her.

Puddles of blood were scattered along the white tiled floor of the hallway, and some was spattered on the walls. She saw the bodies of Zalo's gang spread in different positions on the floor. It looked like Zalo was the only one breathing...

A rush of panic swept over her like a tidal wave. She heard more footsteps coming, heavy footsteps. _Teachers...maybe they can tell me what happened..._

A few teachers busted through the door. Some reeled back as a response, while the others looked with horror. One was pointing at her and yelling, but she didn't need to hear his words.

They were blaming her.

And there was only one thing that she could do...

_Run!!_ Her mind told her. She obeyed and bolted out of there. Out of the place that she called home for most of her life. Out of the dull, dreary orphanage and into real life.

Of course, as soon the big doors closed behind her, she stopped to look around. She could hear the distant sirens of the police cars coming closer. _Keep going!!_ She obeyed again, seeing as there was nothing else that she could do. She took off again, down the main road.

People seemed to stop and stare as she ran by, but she had no time to understand why. She just had to get out of there.

She just had to get out of there.

_Have to get out..._

_Have to get out..._

She was well away from the orphanage when she began to slow down. She stopped in front of a shop with a glass window and looked at herself. She gasped and took a few steps back. "No...please no..." She finally noticed that her bandages were ripped off, revealing the scars on her cheeks. Her choker was also gone, showing the symbol on the side of her neck. Her shirt was slightly ripped in some places, but it was drenched in blood. Her pants had splotches of blood on them as well. She had slight scuff marks and bruises on her face and arms as well.

"No..." She stepped off the sidewalk. "No...I didn't do it...I couldn't have done it..."

_You did and you know it..._

"No..."

_Yes, you did. And you're happy about it too._

She fell down on her knees in the middle of the street and rested her forehead on the blacktop. She held her head and gritted her teeth. "Stop it..."

_You hated them. You hated the fact that they picked on you. They made fun of you, and you took care of them._

"Stop it... Please...stop it...I—"

_You hate them, and you also hate yourself. You hate your markings, you hate your tail. You hate being able to read minds, but most of all...you hate the fact of not being normal._

"STOP IT!!!!!"

She suddenly felt a major pain on the side of her neck, and she fell into darkness.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

She knew she wasn't in the city even before she opened her eyes, only because it was quiet. Too quiet. She felt a lot of wind passing her and finally decided to open her eyes.

All she saw were clouds, and they were moving extraordinarily fast.

Her head began to pound, and she soon feel back into her deep sleep.

_"Whoa, I never would've expected you to come here. Hey wait, aren't you supposed to be with Gohan?"_

_"Are you going to let me in or not!!"_

_"Y-y-yeah, b-but—"_

_"But what?!"_

_"What exactly are you doing here?"_

_"What does it look like?! I need you numbskulls to house this one for a while. I'll come back when she's awake."_

_"Who is she?"_

_"Never mind that, just do it!! Don't tell her anything, either. If she knows, she wouldn't want to help."_

_"Hey, wait a second! Is that a tail?! You don't think that she's—"_

_"No, she couldn't be. Besides, she's different than Raditz. The tail's black, and she has these markings on her that I can't explain."_

"_Where did you find her? Are they coming from plants or something?"  
"Don't be stupid! I found her in a city."_

"_You kidnapped her?!?!"_

"_Please, do you really think any stupid human would see me and live to tell! Besides, she doesn't have anyone."_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_Would you use your head for once?! Obviously, this one's like Goku, with no parents on this planet. She came from an orphanage."_

"_Oh..."_

"_Idiot. Anyway, take her and house her for a few days. I'll come back and then our training will commence."_

"_So you're going to train both Gohan and her? Isn't that gonna be hard?"_

"_Who do you think you're talking to?!"_

"_Oh, right. Sorry."_

"_Find out as much as you can get out of her, and remember not to tell her anything."_

"_Got it." _

A screech of a seagull was her wake-up call this time, and she sat up in bed. Her head still throbbed, but thankfully not as bad as before.

She looked around her room. It consisted of different shades of yellows and whites, and the floor was made of pine wood. She stepped out of bed and walked over to the window. Gazing out, she noticed that the house was on an island. A very small island. A few palm trees were scattered about and the massive blue ocean stretched on for what seemed like forever.

A few distant laughs seemed to come from downstairs, so she took her leave of the single bedroom.

As soon as she was on the stairs, she heard a sudden silence. She calmly walked down them. _They must obviously know that I'm here...and why..._ She thought as she reached the bottom of the stairs.

The stairs led to what looked like a living room, although not much was in it. A few red couches were set up in an open square and surrounding a small oak table. A television was set up against the wall and various pictures were on the walls. The windows were so big that they had seats in them, so one could actually sit against the window.

Two people were occupying the couches, and as soon as she reached the lower level, they looked over at her. Both were rather short compared to her height, and both were also bald. One was older, a long beard and had a pair of sunglasses on his nose. The other was younger, but obviously older than her. He wore a bright orange gi, and six dots resided on his forehead. Both seemed cheerful and nice, so she let her guard down.

"So you're finally awake? That's good, we were starting to worry." The younger one said.

"How did I get here? And who are you guys?" She asked the two main things that rested on her mind.

"I'm Krillin, and this letch over here is Master Roshi." The old man waved and gave a grin that made her want to run back upstairs and lock the door. She didn't ask why he was called a letch, and she didn't want to find out the hard way.

"As for getting here, I can't exactly tell you..." Krillin said.

"Why not?"

"Well, let's just say that I was threatened. Besides, the guy who brought you here will eventually come, so he can tell you everything you want to know."

She didn't exactly believe them, but she had no choice.

"So what's your name?" Krillin asked.

She paused a moment longer, then replied, "Katrina. My name's Katrina."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

A couple hours passed at the island house and Katrina still had no clue who brought her here or why she was here. She didn't exactly get much info out of her new housemates, but they certainly asked a lot of questions.

"So how old are you?"

"Seventeen. I'll be eighteen in a few months."

The man called Roshi kind of scooted towards her a bit as his face turned the color of a strawberry. Katrina could tell what he was getting at, so before he got any closer, she stood up and began pacing around the room. "You still can't tell me anything, can you?" She asked.

"Nope. Sorry. If it were my choice, I'd tell you. But apparently Pi—um...I mean the guy who brought you here wants to tell you himself."

"And when is he supposed to be here?"

"I'm not exactly su—" Krillin stopped and suddenly looked out the window. Roshi did the same, his brow furrowed in concentration. "Never mind. He's coming." He didn't sound too happy about it either.

Katrina was awfully confused, but she guessed that the guy who was coming would tell her everything that she needed to know. Her daydreaming mind got the best of her, as she quickly sketched a picture in her mind of the man who basically saved her life, for lack of a better term.

She pictured him young, but still older than her, or at least older looking. She imagined black hair freshly cut, and deep black eyes. Muscles were built slightly, but just enough to make him look strong. He would have a good looking face too, a face that would make her knees buckle. He would be her "Knight in Shining Armor", and he would understand her. He wouldn't push her away.

Very anxious now that she compiled his entire personality, she walked outside and waited on the golden sand for her prince to come. She looked for an air car or a boat, but she saw nothing except a black dot in the sky.

But very quickly, that black dot became a figure of a person. _Ok, so he's wearing a jet-pack. It's common._ She thought and couldn't wait to see who this mystery figure was.

Krillin and Roshi joined her on the golden sand. "Yep. That's him all right. Same grouchy face."

The man in the sky soon touched down in front of them. He stared at Katrina for a second as if waiting for a response to something. Then he looked over at Krillin and Roshi. "You didn't tell her anything, did you?" He said in a low, gruff voice.

"We didn't say a word about anything." Krillin said, and Katrina could hear that he gulped afterwards.

Katrina could only stare at the man before her...if he _was_ a man. This was not her "Knight in Shining Armor"; this being was not her "Prince Charming". He wasn't anything...except tall and green.

That's right. His skin was tainted a bright green, and it stood out well against the dark purple gi that he was wearing. It was similar to Krillin's, except that this man had no symbol on the chest part of it. He wore pointed brown boots, and a blue belt. His turban was white with a large purple stone on the top. It looked rather heavy, but it looked like nothing compared to what was on his shoulders. The neck part was fluffed, but the rest stuck out like defected football shoulder pads. A long white cape was attached as well, and it barely moved in the soft breeze.

On top of having green skin, his muscles were a bright pink and they were outlined in red. His face was set in a mean glare, and it looked incapable of making a smile. He had no eyebrows, but rather large eye ridges. His nose was pointed, and his lips were thin, but the thing that stuck out the most were his pointed ears. They framed his face and gave him the total alien look. But for some reason, she was not afraid.

His face actually seemed...familiar.

He caught her study and glared for a moment, but then returned his to his conversation with Krillin. "How long has she been awake?"

"About half the day now. She's been sleeping since you brought her here."

"Good, then she's well rested and ready." He looked at her again. "You don't talk much, do you?"

"I learned not to talk to strangers...or kidnappers."

"Kidnapper?" He seemed a bit taken aback by this word, but he quickly regained his posture. "So I'm a kidnapper, am I?"

"Well what do you think? You took me off the street in the middle of the morning with plenty of people around. They'll be looking for you—"

"Just like they'll be looking for _you_?" He shot back at her.

Katrina's eyes widened, then she narrowed them and turned away. "Shut up, that's none of your business." She hissed quietly.

She heard him grunt as if to say "Fine, have it your way, but I'll find out eventually."

"So what's gonna happen now?" Krillin asked.

"I told you already, I'll take her into the mountains to train with Gohan." He said.

Katrina turned back around. "What? I'm not going anywhere until I know what's going on!" She shouted. "Tell me who you are and what you want with me!" She then demanded.

His eyes seemed to flicker, but maybe it was just the sunlight. Never again would she forget these words that this flying man said: "My name is Piccolo, and we need you to save the world."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Apparently, Katrina's expression dumbfounded the three men on the beach. But then again, her entire body went completely numb after hearing those last seven words. She couldn't feel anything, thus she did not know the expression she was making.

"Did you even hear me woman?" Piccolo asked as he stepped closer towards her.

She finally snapped out of it and backed up. She shook her head. "Don't you dare come near me, Kidnapper!" Anger flared in her coal black eyes. "You listen here, all of you! I did not agree to any of this!! You can't make me do anything! Especially to do a job that's obviously fake!!" When she screamed the last sentence, the whole island seemed to shake a bit because both Krillin and Roshi were on the sand and clutching the ground. Piccolo still stood tall however.

Piccolo seemed unaffected by her words. "To tell you the truth, I could care less." He said. "We never asked because we don't have to."

"What are you talking about?! I have rights, you know!!"

"Your only 17, you're not an adult yet." Piccolo smirked. "Besides, it didn't seem like you were leaving that orphanage any time soon anyway. Good thing you took off running, otherwise I would have never been able to get you out of there."

Katrina bared her teeth. "You've been spying on me?!?!"

Piccolo laughed. "Trust me kid, you're life wasn't that great to begin with. You said yourself that you didn't know what do to when you got out of the orphanage, so here, we're practically giving you a job."

"Saving the world is not a job!! You're just making it up so you can keep me here until a Ransom comes up!" Katrina shouted again.

"For the last time, I'm not a kidnapper!!" Piccolo shouted back, and the ground shook again. This time, Katrina felt it and vacillated back and forth before falling into the soft sand.

Piccolo walked over towards her and towered over her. "Whether you like it or not, you're here and you're going to help us. I will train you, and you will do exactly as I order you to. And when one year is over, you will fight for this planet."

Katrina glared up at him, then turned her head away to look at the deep blue ocean that spanned out for miles.

"You don't have much of a choice, kid. It's either this, or we'll have to kill you for being a possible threat." Then he grinned. "Or we can take you back to your city and you'll be punished by man's law. So what's it going to be?"

Katrina remained silent for a moment, then she muttered quietly, "Kill me."

All three spoke in unison, "What?"

"I said kill me."

Piccolo rolled his eyes. "All right, that was my fault for making that option. We're not going to kill you. Instead, you are coming with me to train for one year's time. Then you will fight with us. So it's either that, or it's back to the city."

Katrina hesitated, then finally stood up and brushed the sand off her clothes. "All right. I'll go with you." She muttered quietly.

Piccolo nodded. "Good." He looked back at Krillin. "I sense that Kami will call for you, Yamcha and Tien soon, so prepare yourselves."

Krillin nodded. "Right."

Piccolo looked back down at Katrina, who wasn't too much shorter than him. He wrapped an arm around her waist, powered up until a white flame came around them, and he took to the air.

Katrina didn't happen to notice a jet pack on him, but at the moment she didn't care. She closed her eyes and pretended that she was back in her dorm room at the orphanage. She pretended that it was sunrise again, and soon she believed that she could start the whole day over again.

But Piccolo's voice soon overpowered her thoughts. "If you want to go back so much, why did you agree to come with me?"

Katrina's eyes opened in a flash and she looked up at Piccolo. "How did—?"

Piccolo's black eyes shifted so they were looking directly at her own. "You're not the only one..."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Katrina had no idea how long they flew for, but she didn't care. She was completely convinced that she was dreaming. But apparently, Piccolo could sense that as well.

Katrina's senses were jolted by a sudden drop into a lake. Piccolo remained floating above the lake. She continued to sink until she reached the bottom. The sand was soft and the cool water felt good after sleeping for a few days.

Then she realized that no matter how hard she tried to believe it, this was not a dream. She would not wake up in her stiff gray colored bed and she would not eat the government drool during her lunch. She was awake and at the bottom of a lake.

She also had no air. Katrina quickly pushed off the sand and floated towards the top. The lake was not too deep, so she didn't have far to go. She broke the surface and took a deep breath. She glared up at Piccolo. "What did you do that for?"

"You needed a wake up call." He grunted and landed on the grass near the bank of the lake.

Katrina brought herself out of the lake and wrung out her raven black hair. "You could have just slapped me, it would have had the same effect." She told him.

Piccolo shrugged. "Maybe. But it looked like you could use a bath. Too bad those blood stains sunk in already or else—"

"Wait, what?" Katrina shot him a worried look.

Piccolo pointed at her clothes. "The blood stains. You haven't forgotten already, have you?"

Katrina's head slowly moved to look down at her shirt and pants. Sure enough, dark, brownish-red stains were spattered on them. "No..." She whispered as her eyes began to waver. She raced back into the lake and started scrubbing her shirt and pants. "No...no!" She said as she kept scrubbing. "Come out! Come out! Please!"

"I'll get you different clothes if it bothers you that much." Piccolo stepped over to the edge of the lake and gazed at her.

Katrina stopped and waited for the water to settle. She gazed at her reflection and noticed that her other bandage was coming off. Slowly, she peeled it off and threw it aside.

She looked down at her reflection, then she glared down at it. "You did this!" She hissed. She smacked the water so her reflection would shatter. Then she started to scrub her cheeks. "Why?!" She asked to no one in particular. "Why won't they come off!!"

Piccolo saw that she was starting to get a little delusional, so he stepped into the lake and grabbed her. He dragged her out of the lake over towards some trees near the middle of the clearing. He set her down there.

But Katrina only curled up in a ball and sobbed uncontrollably. Her entire body was shaking tremendously.

Piccolo looked down at her and felt something that he barely felt: Pity. He took his turban off and his shoulder weights and ripped the cape off. He then wrapped it around the shaking girl.

She appeared unaffected and continued to cry. Piccolo sighed. _It may take a while for the effect to ware off. _He then sat down near her just in case. _Guess there's nothing to do but wait._

It seemed like a year had passed before she decided to uncurl. She finally noticed that something was covering her and saw that it was Piccolo's cape. She moved it so she could poke her head into the outside world. The sky was dark, but the sun was either setting or rising behind the mountains. She couldn't tell if it was East or West, but quite frankly she didn't care. Her head pounded and she felt empty. She could barely move.

She heard something move to her right, so she slowly turned her head to look. Piccolo was walking towards her with something in his arms. When he came closer, she saw that it was wood.

He set it down a few feet from her. "How are you feeling?" He asked quietly.

Katrina could barely speak, but she managed to muster out, "Hungry."

Piccolo nodded. "I figured you would be. You haven't eaten for almost a week now." He piled up the wood and in an inexplicable flash, the wood was on fire and roasting. "Can you hang on a little longer while I go get something?"

She didn't even know if she nodded or not, but Piccolo seemed to sense a yes. He nodded and pointed behind her. "I brought you some new clothes if you want to change into them. I'll be back." Then he took to the air and was gone.

Katrina looked behind her and noticed that they were piled very neatly. They looked brand new. She looked through the pile. It consisted of a black shirt with sleeves cut at the elbows, purple pants, lilac colored boots, and a blue ribbon belt.

She looked around to make sure that she was all alone, then she changed into them as fast as she could. The black shirt and the purple pants were made of a thick material and were pretty heavy, so when she got everything on she collapsed back on the ground.

The fire was burning well, but she still wrapped Piccolo's cape around her tightly. Katrina closed her heavy eyelids for what seemed like a moment, but it was Piccolo that had to wake her up.

Apples and various berries were piled up in front of her, and five fish were cooking near the fire on sticks. He had given her a canteen of fresh water as well. "The fish will be done soon, so start with the apples and berries." He told her as he sat down on the other side of the fire.

Katrina didn't hesitate. She stuffed as many berries in her mouth as she could and continued like that until the fish were done. Piccolo couldn't help but laugh a bit as he handed her a fish on a stick. She took it without noticing his snicker and ate the fish heartily.

With two fish, apples and berries in her stomach, she was finally full. She rested against the tree that was behind her and looked up at the sky. "What am I?"

Piccolo looked up from biting his fish. "Hm?"

She didn't remove her eyes from the black velvet above her. "I finally realize that I'm not normal...I mean I've known it but I'm finally able to come to terms with it." Then she looked back down at him. "So what am I?"

Piccolo paused for a second, then replied, "That's for you to find out on your own. I can't help you."

Katrina stared at him for a second, then turned away.

Silence draped over the campsite as quickly as a wind passes through. Piccolo finished his dinner and tossed the sticks aside. He looked over at his companion. "Katrina is it?"

Katrina came out of her daze and looked over at him. "What?"

"Your name. It's Katrina, right?"

She nodded. "Yeah. A...a lot of people called me Kat...just a nickname that I got..."

"I thought you didn't want to talk about your past." Piccolo inquired.

Katrina shrugged. "It...it kind of stuck..." She answered quietly and turned her head away.

"Well, anyway, training starts tomorrow. Sorry to start off right away but—"

"It's ok..." She replied. "I mean, I have to save the world, right?"

Piccolo paused. "You won't be alone, but yes."

Katrina didn't look at him, but Piccolo got the feeling that she understood. "Get some sleep then. Good night...Kat."

Katrina looked back over towards him, a little stunned that he called her that name. But when she looked, he was gone.

_Sleep._ Her head told her, so she lied down underneath Piccolo's cape and closed her eyes.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Katrina awoke to a small nudge. She moaned slightly. "What time is it?"

"Early still." Piccolo grunted. "Get up."

Katrina rolled her eyes underneath the blanket and sat up. "What are you, an early bird?"

"I don't sleep...much."

Katrina paused for a second. "I should have known that..." She mumbled. "Well, I'm more of a lazy person so could you come back later? _Much_ later?"

"Sorry, but no. Trust me, after a few months of this you won't be lazy. Now get up before I have to pick you up." Piccolo crossed his arms and stared down at her.

Katrina did not feel like moving. She had gotten quite comfortable on the grass. "What are we going to do today?" She asked.

"I'm going to teach you how to fly. It's pretty basic and easy to learn if you can keep up."

"Aren't we going to do it here? Why do I have to move?"

Piccolo rolled his eyes. "I'm going to take you up on a mountain flat. By the end of the day, you'll be flying off of it. It makes good motivation."

"So you're going to have to pick me up anyway..."

Piccolo glared. "You are such a baby..." Then he turned around. "I'm going to count to five. If you aren't up by then, I'll drop you back in the city. I don't deal with babies."

"Let me guess, you eat them right?"

Piccolo paused for a long time before saying, "One."

Katrina rolled her eyes.

"Two...Three..._Four_..." He counted off.

Katrina then appeared at his side.

Piccolo smirked. "I knew you would come around."

Katrina shrugged. "Actually I was already up when you said one. I was just fixing my hair."

"You should get it cut."

"Touch my hair and die."

"I'm just saying that with long hair like that, it'll be a problem for fighting and flying. If it gets much longer, you'll have to cut it."

"Don't worry. My hair doesn't seem to grow very fast. I've had it this length since I was five years old."

Piccolo dwelled a moment, just staring at her with an odd look.

Katrina cocked her head to the side a bit. "What is it?"

Piccolo seemed to snap out of it and shook his head. "Nothing, it's nothing. Let get going, we're wasting daylight." He moved closer towards her and wrapped an arm around her waist. The white flame came around them again and they took to the air.

"What do you mean daylight?" Katrina asked as they grew closer towards a mountain range.

Piccolo remained silent as they neared a huge, brown mountain. They flew up quite a bit to reach the surprisingly flat top. When he landed, he set her down and pointed towards what had to be the East. "That daylight."

Katrina followed his gesture and looked. Her eyes widened. The sun looked so close from up there that it looked like you could reach out and touch it. It was beautiful to watch its gentle rays slowly come across the ground below and stretch over the flat mountain top.

Piccolo watched her. _It's so strange...she has no fear of me whatsoever. And simple things like this amaze her...'_Piccolo thought. _Maybe she'd been locked away in that city for too long...no wonder she doesn't want to go back._

Katrina felt a sudden presence and turned to look at Piccolo. For the first time ever, she realized that he hadn't been wearing his turban or his shoulder weights for a little while. Nothing about his appearance was new except for the fact that he was bald and he had antennae on his forehead. She wasn't freaked out or anything, either. She only felt that his appearance was familiar.

They both looked at each other for long moments of time. Katrina realized that he wasn't glaring at her either. His face seemed gentler than before. Piccolo couldn't help but notice how her eyes sparkled in the morning sun.

Finally, Katrina turned her head away and walked over towards the edge of the cliff. Piccolo joined her by her side. She continued to stare at the morning life below her. "Thank you, Piccolo." She whispered without looking at him.

At first, he was a little perplexed. But then he understood. He didn't say it, but Katrina sensed a "you're welcome" from him. Then he turned and walked over towards the center.

Katrina remained a moment, still staring at the beauty. She never noticed that the rocks underneath were starting to give away. Finally, she heard a loud crack and looked down. The rocks beneath her feet started to crumble and slide down the steep slope of the mountain.

Piccolo also heard the crumbling and turned. Katrina started to scream as she began falling with the rocks.

"Kat!!" Piccolo hollered and rushed over. He was able to grab her just in time and pull her up away from the cliff. Katrina instinctively wrapped her arms around his waist and she watched the rocks tumble and fall. It wasn't until a few seconds later that they heard them hit the ground.

Both of them sighed in unison and realized a few seconds later that they had their arms wrapped around each other. Katrina turned a bright red and released him immediately. Piccolo did the same.

After another moment of silence, Piccolo finally retorted, "Watch where you're going next time."

Katrina glared up at him. "Oh yeah, I really knew that the cliff had a weak spot."

"I didn't have to save you, you know."

"Then why did you?" Katrina asked, setting her hands on her hips.

Piccolo didn't respond. He simply turned around and walked back over towards the center. Katrina didn't hesitate to join him this time.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"Let's get started then." Piccolo said, his voice sounding more serious. "Sit down."

Katrina obeyed and Piccolo sat down in front of her. "First of all, before I can teach you, you have to understand how energy works."

Katrina listened intently.

"Everything that you do consists of energy, whether it be talking a walk or fighting an enemy. Restoring your energy is easy, you either sleep, eat or meditate. But the trick behind energy is that in order to make it greater, you have to train and learn how to harness it. That's why I brought you into this."

"What do you mean?" Katrina asked.

Piccolo paused, choosing his words carefully so that he wouldn't upset her about her past. "That day, you showed a tremendous amount of energy, but apparently you don't remember much of what happened. That's what happens when you lose control of it." Piccolo was looking at her straight in the eye now. "I'm going to teach you how to control that power and channel it."

Katrina looked down at the brown rock underneath her.

Piccolo looked at her with compassion. _Great job._ He told himself. "Listen, Kat, I—"

Katrina suddenly looked back up at him. "I'm fine." She said. "Go on..."

He looked deeply into her eyes for a second, then continued knowing that it was what she truly wanted. "The first step to knowing how to control your energy is flying. But before we go into that, I want to show you what energy looks like when you bring it out." He held out his hand and in no time at all, a small, glowing, yellow orb was floating above his palm. "That's my energy. I can bring it out quickly because I've had years of training. It won't be as easy for you, but I have confidence in you." He closed his fist and the energy orb dispersed.

"Put out your hand and concentrate. You'll find something deep down inside of you. When you do, make it rise and come out your hand." Piccolo crossed his arms and waited.

Katrina stared at her hands for a second, then put them in front of her. She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate. But like every other teenager, she was impatient. She gritted her teeth slightly and started to shake until she felt two strong hands on her shoulders.

She opened her eyes and looked up straight into Piccolo's face. "You have to relax. When you are totally relaxed, that's when you find it. Now," he said moving his hands from her shoulders to her own two hands. "Try it again."

Katrina realized that he wasn't going to let go, so she let out a deep breath and closed her eyes. This time however she did somehow relax. Maybe it was just knowing that Piccolo was right there beside her, or maybe she can just instantly relax. What ever the case was, she found it.

She opened her eyes as a huge rush of air suddenly seemed to come right out from underneath her. She looked over at Piccolo who was smiling. He let go of her hands and his grin got wider. "That's your energy."

Katrina looked down at her hands and noticed there was a small, glowing, purple orb of light floating in between her palms. She stared at it in awe and didn't take her eyes off of it for some time. "Why is it purple?" She asked.

"The color of energy differs from the type of person you are. Most have yellow or blue, but I guess you're one of a kind."

Katrina lost her concentration and the energy orb disappeared. "I know that already..." She muttered quietly.

Piccolo paused and looked at her for a moment. She was, indeed, one of a kind. The stripe markings on her cheeks and the strange symbol on her neck were things that he had never seen before. Her black tail was new as well, but he had seen a brown one before. She was a telepath, and she was the only person who had not screamed when first meeting him. _She is pretty special..._ Piccolo thought, making sure he had the block on.

Piccolo stood up. "I think you're ready." He held down a hand and helped her stand. "This way, I won't need to carry you anymore."

"Oh, so you're saying that I'm fat and you're sick of lugging me around everywhere?!?!" Katrina hollered.

"No, I'm not!" Piccolo shook his head.

Katrina pretended to be upset and turned away from him. "Just forget it. Maybe I should go kill myself." She sobbed.

"Hold on! I never said that you were—" He stopped when he realized that Katrina was laughing and not crying. "Wait a second!"

Katrina turned around with a grin on her face. "Gotcha." She giggled.

Piccolo's eye twitched and he turned and started to walk away from her.

Katrina stopped laughing and followed him. "Hey, c'mon, Piccolo, it was just a joke!"

"There is no time for joking around! We only have a year of training, which isn't a lot!" He took off into the air. "Learn how to fly yourself!!" Then he flew down the mountain and out of sight.

Katrina stood near the edge and watched as the white flame disappeared from sight. "Piccolo..." She whimpered. She sat down at the edge. "I didn't mean to hurt him. I just thought that......oh what's the use. Now I'm stranded up here for who knows how long."

She lay back down and began to watch the clouds fly on by. Hours seemed to fly by and she still had no idea how she was going to get down. She closed her eyes for a moment because the sun got too bright.

When she reopened them, she saw Piccolo towering above her with a glower. She sat up and turned around to face him. "Piccolo?"

Suddenly, he broke out into a smile. "Gotcha."

"YOU JACKASS!!!!" She stood up and slapped hard across the face. "How dare you do that to me!!! I thought I was gonna be stranded up here for days!!"

Piccolo could only laugh, despite the fact that his cheek began to throb. "You deserved it."

"Did not!"

"Did too."

Katrina glared at him long and hard until her eyes began to hurt. Then she smirked. "I think we're beyond the line of kidnapper/victim."

"What do you mean?" Piccolo asked, already not liking her tone of voice.

"Well," She began, "I mean, you did save me from falling, and my joke wouldn't have meant so much that you had to pull one on me too. I think you're starting to like having me around."

"Please, you're a pest and a baby like all teenagers are. I could care less." Piccolo crossed his arms and turned his face away. Usually he was pretty good at bluffing, but in this case he was bad.

Katrina paused, but kind of expected that answer. "Ok." She walked over to the ledge and turned around to face him. With a smile she said, "Prove it." Then she stepped backwards off the ledge and began to plummet.

"Hey!!" He rushed over to the ledge and saw her falling towards the ground. "Oh this is just great. If I get her, it proves her point. But if I don't, she's dead." Then he stopped. "What am I saying?! I need her......t-to save the world!" He flew as fast as he could and managed to catch her about ten feet from the ground.

Katrina opened her eyes when she knew she stopped moving. She looked over at Piccolo. He refused to look at her. Instead, he looked up at the sky and started to fly back up towards the top of the mountain. Katrina wrapped her arms around his neck and held onto him until he landed at the top.

Piccolo purposely dropped her on the ground hard and glared at her coldly.

"Ow! What did you do that for?!" Katrina asked, standing back up.

"Don't ever do that again, Katrina!!" Piccolo roared.

She knew he was serious because this was the first time he had ever called her by her full name. "But I—"

"If there's one thing you do, you _never_ play with your opponents emotions. _Never_! Only backstabbers and cheapskates sink down to that level, and I never want to see you going that low. Understand?!" He shouted.

Katrina nodded.

"Promise me that you will never sink that low ever again, Katrina."

"I promise." Katrina looked at the rocky floor. "I-I'm sorry..."

Piccolo nodded, but she didn't see it. He looked up at the sky and saw that their daylight wasn't going to last much longer. _Damn, we don't have much time left! That's my fault, I shouldn't have been gone that long. _Piccolo walked over towards Katrina. "C'mon, I'll take you down." He said quietly.

Katrina nodded, but instead of being carried under his arm, he picked her up off her feet. Katrina wrapped her arms around his neck again but refused to look at his face.

Piccolo slowly flew down into the clearing below. He landed a little away from their campsite and walked the rest of the way while carrying Katrina in his arms. When he got to the tree, he set her down gently. Katrina still hadn't looked at him, still ashamed.

Piccolo watched her for a moment before starting the fire again. He gathered up the wood and set them down in a neat pile. In another flash of light, the fire was sweltering again.

Instead of taking his usual seat across from the fire, he sat down next to Katrina. He sighed heavily. "I'm sorry."

For the first time, Katrina looked over at him. "About what?"

Piccolo looked over at her. "I shouldn't have been so angry at you. You didn't know." Then he looked down at the ground. "It just...really aggravates me how some people use emotions just so they can win." He clenched his fists tightly. "They're cheaters and sore losers because they know that they can't win regularly."

Katrina watched him compassionately. She moved closer towards him.

Piccolo was still glaring at the ground when felt a gentle hand cover his trembling fist. He looked up right into Katrina's kind eyes. She didn't say anything, but he sensed that she understood.

Piccolo smiled at her. He relaxed his fist but didn't shake Katrina off. Instead, their fingers entwined and remained like that. Katrina rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. Piccolo looked down at her and couldn't help but smile wider. _You really are one of a kind... _Then he rested his back against the tree and watched the stars.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Slowly and reluctantly, Piccolo opened his eyes. For a second, he didn't know where he was. He lifted his head and saw that Katrina was still beside him. _I guess I needed sleep..._ He thought and noticed that their hands were still clutched together tightly.

He looked down at Katrina, who was sleeping soundly on his shoulder. She seemed so peaceful and innocent. Half of him wanted to believe that she wasn't the one who's power he felt that day. That side of him did not want to burden the poor teen with the fate of the planet. But even if he believed in that completely, one more problem arose: Would he let her go?

Piccolo continued to stare down at her and meditated on that question. Finally, he shook his head. _She's the one. She _has_ to be..._

She seemed to stir after his thought but she was only dreaming. _I better go check on Gohan, make sure he's not dead._ He thought bluntly but waited for a few extra minutes before he actually processed the thought of standing up. Carefully, he eased his hand out of hers and laid her down on the ground. He wrapped the white cape around her body and stood up.

He walked for a bit before actually powering up and taking flight. On the way to Gohan's mountain, he got a chance to think. _Why is it that when ever I'm near her, I feel more comfortable and relaxed than when I'm with the kid?'_He asked himself. _It doesn't make sense. I've never been like this around anyone before..._

When he reached Gohan's mountain, he landed close to where a thin trail of smoke was floating up towards the blackened sky. Gohan was sleeping as well, his small sword resting next to him. _Well, it looks like he's doing ok._ He thought. _The sword was a good idea, I guess._ Then he turned and flew back towards the other campsite.

He again landed some feet away from the campsite and continued the way by foot. When he got there, he saw that she was somewhat awake. "What's wrong?" He asked, still standing.

Katrina lifted her head towards where he was. "I just had a bad dream..." Then she laid it back down on the grassy Earth and closed her eyes. "Don't worry about it."

Piccolo walked over and sat down in front of her with his back to the dying fire. "What was it about?"

"I told you not to worry about it." Katrina said, sounding a little irritated that she had to repeat herself.

"Well sometimes," Piccolo said. "Dreams can be more than what they seem. So," He hesitated. "What did you see?"

Katrina opened her eyes to look at him. She sat up slightly and leaned on her elbow. "It's not new to me, I've had this dream before. I just see the full moon and a glowing red eye. And then it ends."

Piccolo looked up at the black sky. He saw that the moon was almost full, but not quite. "When do you usually get these dreams?"

"I dunno, about once a month I guess."

"Well that would explain the moon..." Piccolo mumbled, looking back down at her. "What else did you say you see?"

"Just a big, red, glowing eye. I never understood that part of it, but I've never really had to." Katrina said.

Piccolo meditated on it but was interrupted by a slightly strong, cool breeze blowing through the clearing. Katrina lifted her face, closed her eyes and smiled as the breeze refreshed her. When it blew through, she looked back over at him. "It's going to rain soon."

"Caught that, did you?" Piccolo smiled over at her.

"I can usually sense the weather." Then she broke out into a smile and stared off into the distance. "I remember, back when I was about seven or eight, whenever we went on a fieldtrip somewhere, the teacher would ask me if there was going to be bad weather." She remained to stare off into the distance. "I remember when the class cheered when I said it wouldn't rain."

Piccolo watched her facial expression like it was a slide show. First she was smiling brightly, then it faded into a frown, and then finally her eyes saddened and wavered. A few tears streamed down her face, but before she could wipe them on her arm, Piccolo wiped them away with a gentle thumb. "You miss those days, don't you?" he said in a low tone.

Katrina nodded and looked at him. Something had changed since the first time they met. His eyes seemed...open and understanding. They were no longer frozen and bitter.

"What about you?" She suddenly asked him. "Do you miss some of your past?"

Piccolo looked a little shocked that she would ask him. "Why do you want to know?" He finally inquired.

"It just seems like I barely know anything about you...other than the fact that you hate cheaters." Katrina pulled her knees to her chest and hugged them. "I want to know more."

Piccolo blinked at her. He face suddenly turned sour and he stood up. He turned his back on her. "No...you don't."

"Yeah, I do—"

"Get some sleep." He cut her off with his back still turned. "We're still going to train, even if it does rain." He started to walk away when he felt a gentle tug on his arm.

Katrina had stood up and caught him. "Piccolo..." She pleaded. "Please...just tell me..."

Piccolo didn't look at her. He only looked at the ground and wondered why he wasn't still walking. Her grasp was not that strong, but for some reason his feet were frozen to the ground.

Katrina stepped to his side. "Listen...I don't like parts of my past either, but I would still tell you. It can't be all bad—"

"It is." Piccolo muttered sharply. Finally he turned towards her and grabbed her arms. "My name doesn't seem the least bit _familiar_ to you?!" He tried not to scream.

"What are you talking about?" Katrina asked, trying to loosen his strong grasp on her arms.

But then his grasp got tighter and his nails seemed to dig into her skin. "You should remember! It was only a few years ago!" Piccolo bared his teeth. "Fine, if you don't remember, let me give you a hint! Do you remember the name 'King Piccolo'?"

Katrina's eyes widened. The King Piccolo issue was known worldwide. She was lucky enough to not be terrorized by his power. It practically became a national holiday when he was killed by an unknown fighter.

Piccolo's eyes narrowed. "I thought you would know _him_." Piccolo then released her arms and stared at her with a hurt expression. "He was my father. Basically, I'm an exact copy."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Katrina blinked. "I...I didn't—"

"You didn't know? Huh? Was that what you were going to say?" Piccolo said angrily. "Well now you do."

Katrina remained silent and only stared at him while rubbing her sore arms.

"You really want to know me? Fine, here's a basic summary: when I was little, everyone hated me and no one wanted to deal with me. I had to fend for myself and the only thing on my mind was killing my Father's killer. All that hatred for him was because my Father wanted me to follow in his footsteps to take over this planet. I finally met him at the World Martial Arts Tournament a few years back and what happens? I do follow in my father's foot steps because he basically creams me. After that the only thing I can still think about is getting back at him because he humiliated me in front of the entire world." Then he paused as it all sunk in. "There, are you happy? That's my sad story. So leave me alone!" Then he powered up and flew off somewhere.

"Piccolo, wait!" She called out but it was too late. He was long gone. Clouds rolled above her head, covering the stars and the moon. Thunder roared in the distance and the rain drops began to fall. "Great. Just great." She picked up Piccolo's cape and ran in the direction that he went.

"Why couldn't he have taught me to fly?" She muttered to herself as she dodged around the trees and followed her intuition.

But sadly as she got to the end of the forest, a cliff awaited her. A very high cliff. She stood at its edge and watched the lightning strike the ground below her. She looked down at the slightly torn cape—for when she was running, it caught on many branches—in her arms. "Piccolo..." She whimpered. She looked out over the cliff with tears forming in her eyes. "I didn't mean to make you upset...I just wanted to know you..." Then she began to shout, "Piccolo!!! I'm sorry!!!"

Her voice echoed throughout the landscape below her, but she got no answer. Depressed, she dropped down onto the ground and curled up under his cape, not knowing what else to do.

After a little while, she lifted her head. Katrina stood up and turned towards where the mountains tried to touch the sky. _He's there...I know it..._ Then she picked up his cape and took off.

Piccolo was sitting out in the open rain. He was hunched over with his fists on the ground. His purple blood seeped from his knuckles and mixed with the puddles on the rocky ground. When he first landed near the mountains, he let out his anger by punching the wall of the mountain. His blood was stained there too.

His eyes were closed and he just let the rain soak his clothes and drip off of his antennae and his nose. He felt completely numb and torn apart. _How could I have acted like that?_ He asked himself numerous times as the rain just kept falling.

Lightning struck the ground around the mountain, but he didn't care. He couldn't care less about getting hit by lightning. He felt like shit already, so what would be the point of worrying?

_How could I have acted like that?_ He asked again. He remembered how she whimpered when he grabbed her. _I hurt her. I'm no better than my father. _

Suddenly, he felt something being draped over his shoulders and someone wrapping their arms around his neck. Piccolo looked over to his side and saw Katrina's smiling face. She wrapped her arms tighter around his neck and rested her face against his. "I'm sorry I'm late." She whispered.

"Kat..." He managed to mutter. His throat was a little sore because he was screaming while punching the rock wall. "Kat, I—"

Katrina hushed him. "It's ok. I understand, Piccolo. Everything's going to be ok."

Piccolo was speechless and had no idea how to feel. So he just closed his eyes and leaned back into Katrina. The rain continued to pour, and the thunder continued to roar.

After a few moments, Piccolo reopened his eyes and slowly came out of Katrina's embrace. Katrina loosened her grip on him but never totally let go. Piccolo looked at her and noticed that she was completely drenched from head to toe. "I have to get you out of the rain." He told her, and she nodded. Piccolo cradled her in his arms and stood up, the cape still draped over his shoulders. "C'mon." He powered up and flew down the mountain and into a nearby cave. He walked slowly into the cave far enough away from the entrance so that the wind wouldn't blow the rain in.

Once they were in far enough, he set her down and sat down as close as possible to her. Katrina draped an arm over his waist and rested her head on his strong neck. Piccolo wrapped an arm around her shoulders and held her tightly. "I'm sorry." He whispered against her forehead.

"Don't be." She whispered back. "I made you tell me, Piccolo." Her black tail draped over his leg. "I made you tell me...don't be sorry."

Piccolo rested his cheek on the top of her head. "I hurt you..."

"Hm?" Katrina raised her head to look at him.

"Your arms..." he muttered. "I hurt you."

Katrina looked down at her arms but then back up at him. She laid her hand on his chest. "No you didn't. I'm fine."

"I'm just like him..." He mumbled and stared off in the distance.

This time, Katrina was determined to snap him out of it. She sat up and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. With a gentle hand, she turned his face towards hers. He looked into her coal black eyes and she returned the glance. "You are not like your father." She said it slowly so that he would understand. She cupped his cheek in her hand and stared back at him. "You are not like your father." She repeated. "He killed many people. He didn't care for anybody but himself and made you try to finish what he started."

Piccolo watched her with an emotionless face.

"You are completely different from him. You saved my life in more ways then one. And you're trying to protect the planet that he wanted you to rule over." She smiled at him. "You're not like him, you're the complete opposite." Katrina laid her hand on his chest again.

Piccolo's eyes went from her face down to the hand that held his heart. He grasped her hand in his own and squeezed it tightly. Then he looked back at her and smiled. "Thank you, Katrina."

Katrina could tell he truly meant it because he used her full name again. "Anytime." She answered and laid her head back down on his neck.

Piccolo rested his cheek on the top of her head and held her hand tightly. Both fell asleep soundly, listening to the combination of the pouring rain and each other's heartbeats.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Katrina awoke suddenly, not knowing what had startled her. She looked around the cave, half expecting something to jump out of the shadows at her. She looked over at Piccolo, who was now awake because of her sudden movement. He stared down at her. "What is it?"

"Nothing...I guess..." Katrina muttered. Then she paused. "Do you hear that?"

Piccolo looked towards where the entrance of the cave was. "It stopped raining." Then he looked down at Katrina. "I guess we can leave."

Katrina nodded and stood up. Her muscles were tight, so she stretched to release the stress. Piccolo stood up as well. "By the way," He began.

Katrina looked over at him while stretching her arms above her head. "What?"

"How exactly did you get to the top of the mountain?" Piccolo raised an eye ridge as he said, "I know that you can't fly yet, so how?"

Katrina smiled and bent down to touch her toes. "I climbed."

"You what?" Piccolo asked.

"Yeah, that's right." Katrina stood back up and looked at him. "I climbed." Then she started to walk towards the entrance of the cave.

Piccolo blinked as he watched her walk, her tail swishing from side to side as she moved closer towards the light of the entrance. _It doesn't take me long to fly up there, but to climb it?_ He thought as he followed. _It's almost impossible, it would take several hours. But of course, _He thought as he looked down at his knuckles, where his blood had dried and started to chip off like paint. _Who knows how long I was up there for. _They had already healed, thanks to his regeneration powers, but if Katrina saw the blood on them she would most likely freak.

He stopped right next to Katrina and looked around. Day had already broken the curse of night was glistening beautifully. Everything was sparkling from the past night's down pour. From where the sun was, it was most likely around 8:00 or so.

Piccolo looked over at Katrina. "Are you ready to learn how to fly?"

Katrina looked over at him and smirked. "Well it's about damn time."

Piccolo smirked and picked her up off her feet. Katrina again wrapped her arms around his neck as he flew back towards the top of the mountain.

Once he reached the top, he set her down on her feet. "Wait here, I'll be right back." He suddenly flew off again.

"Wait a minute!" She called. "Where are you going?" Then she paused as she watched him disappear. "Oh, I get it. This is another one of his games." Then she shouted, "I won't be fooled this time!!!"

Suddenly, his white flame appeared in the sky again. He landed down next to her. "I wasn't tricking you this time." He said and dropped whatever he was carrying.

When Katrina got a good look at what he was carrying, she found that it was a _who_. A little boy, about five years old, stood up from the flat floor and wiped the dust from his torn, orange gi. He had a sword strapped on his back and his hair was rather tangled. He looked over at Katrina with big, black eyes and he smiled. "Hi!" He said rather pleasantly.

"Uh...hi." Katrina responded. Then she looked over at Piccolo, who somehow had his turban and shoulder weights back on. "Who's the kid?"

"I've been training him too. He's like you, with a hidden talent. But I've been letting him live out of the wild alone." Piccolo said.

"My name's Gohan. What's yours?" He asked.

Katrina looked back down at the kid. "I'm Katrina."

"Nice to meet you, Katrina!" He grinned.

Katrina heart basically melted. "You're such a sweet kid! It's nice to meet you too."

Piccolo rolled his eyes as the two shook hands and giggled. He cleared his throat loud enough so both would pay attention. They did and turned their attention towards their teacher. "Finally." He muttered. "Now that we're all acquainted, let's get started. I decided to bring Gohan up here so I could teach you both how to fly at the same time instead of two separate lessons. You two will be working together from now on so get used to each other."

Both Katrina and Gohan nodded simultaneously.

"All right then." Piccolo grunted. "I've shown and told you both about energy, so I don't have to go through that again. Instead, I'll get right down to it." His usual white flame didn't appear this time, but he slowly floated up above the flat mountain top. Once he got far enough, he shouted down to them, "Basically, you have to take your energy and push it down towards your feet. The more energy you use, the faster you go. Try it."

Katrina and Gohan looked at each other as if to silently say, "Easy for you to say." Katrina decided to try it out first. She closed her eyes and laid her hands calmly at her sides. In her mind, she found herself traveling downwards until a vast, purple light appeared before her. She mentally took a sample and shoved it down towards her feet. It wasn't easy, because the energy seemed magnetic to the giant orb inside of her.

Very slowly, she could feel the warmth of the energy traveling down her legs in a sort of spiral motion and before she knew, she wasn't touching the ground anymore. She opened her eyes and found her face to face with Piccolo, and neither were touching the ground.

Gohan smiled widely. "You did it, Katrina!" He laughed.

Piccolo patted her shoulder and gave a small smile of pride. "Good job." He said. He looked down at Gohan and said, "Give it a try."

It took Gohan a little longer to get the concept, but soon he was floating with the rest of the party.

Piccolo nodded his head, his sign of pride for Gohan, and said, "Excellent. Now that you can actually float, it's time to learn the tricky part. To actually move in a direction while flying, you have to do the same thing but lean your body towards the direction of where you want to go. And while you're flying, you have to concentrate on keeping that energy down. Once you've gotten the hang of it, you won't have to concentrate as much while flying, but for now it's all I want you two to think about. Understand?"

Katrina and Gohan nodded.

"Right then." Piccolo said. "Start flying in a straight line, then see if you're ready for turning. Go." Piccolo pointed off in a direction.

Almost immediately, Katrina sent down more energy then expected and zoomed off in the distance, laughing at Piccolo's expression of shock.

Gohan started flying too, but he was slower and more wobbly than Katrina.

Katrina managed to get the hang of turning rather quickly too. She spun around in circles and rose high above the clouds and joined the birds flying in a small group.

Piccolo watched her dance along the clouds and couldn't help but smile. _It comes so naturally to her..._ Then his smile faded. _Which means she is the one whose power I felt...that means I'm putting her in danger..._

But his frown faded as she neared him with a few birds flying next to her. She stopped and giggled as the birds perched on her shoulders and one on her raised finger.

"Looks like you've made some new friends..." Piccolo said.

Katrina nodded as the birds suddenly took to the air again. They both watched them fly off into the distance and a sudden silence came over them.

Piccolo fixed his gaze upon her. "You did well today, Kat." He said quietly.

"Thanks..." Then Katrina looked down at the ground below. "But it's all so...strange..."

"What is?" Piccolo asked.

"It all seems so familiar, like I've flown before..." Then she closed her eyes and laid a hand on her forehead. "Damnit, I wish I could remember!"

Piccolo rested a hand on her shoulder. "Don't let it get to you so much." He said. "In time, you'll remember."

Katrina opened her eyes and showed him a slight smile. She opened her mouth to say something when Gohan interrupted them. He flew up to them laughing, "Wow! This is great!"

Piccolo suddenly removed his hand from her shoulder and slightly blushed. Katrina giggled. "Hey, how about a race?" She asked.

"Yeah!" Gohan responded.

"I don't think so..." Piccolo mumbled, the green tint returning to his cheeks.

"Oh c'mon, Piccolo. It'll be fun!" Katrina said, slightly pushing him. "Let's see, how about first one to circle those mountains and back." She said, pointing off in the distance. "And the loser has to cook dinner."

"Ok!" Gohan said.

"I still don't know..." Piccolo murmured.

"Please Piccolo? It wouldn't be as much fun with only two people."

"Training isn't supposed to be fun at all, it's supposed to be hard work."

"C'mon, just one race. Then we can get back to work." Katrina pouted slightly, a face that made her famous.

Piccolo, along with anyone else who saw it, couldn't resist. "All right, one race. Then back to training."

Gohan laughed triumphantly and Katrina smiled at him. He returned it and moved so they were all lined up.

"Remember, you have to circle the mountains and come back." Katrina said. "Ready..." She began. "Set!"

"Go!" Piccolo suddenly shouted and took off, Katrina right behind him and Gohan dead last.

Piccolo laughed evilly. "This was too easy." He said to himself, already nearing the mountains. He felt a tap on his shoulder and when he turned he saw Katrina flying next to him with ease. She smiled at him brightly, her black eyes sparkling. Piccolo smiled back at her.

Suddenly, Katrina laughed and pointed ahead of him. He looked but there wasn't much time. He suddenly went face first into the mountain. Katrina laughed. "C'mon, Gohan! Hurry up!"

Piccolo, still flat against the mountain, saw as Gohan and Katrina flew past him to circle the mountains. He finally pushed off the mountain and flew off. "That was not fair!!" He shouted up to them, but they only laughed in return.

Piccolo powered up and flew as fast as he could to try and catch up. But no matter how fast he flew, he was still behind them. In the home stretch, Piccolo suddenly reached out and grabbed Katrina's black tail that was flapping around behind her.

Almost immediately she stopped and Piccolo ran right into her. Gohan stopped when he found out that Katrina was no longer flying next to him.

Just as suddenly as she had stopped, Katrina became limp and started to fall over. Piccolo managed to catch her before she fell. Gohan flew up to them. "What happened?" He asked curiously.

"I...don't know..." Piccolo trailed off, looking into the unconscious face of the girl in his arms. "I just pulled her tail to slow her down..."

"I wonder why..." Gohan said, staring at Katrina. Both remained silent for a moment, pondering what could have been the cause. Then it suddenly clicked. "Oh! That's right. Tails are weak spots!"


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Piccolo would have fallen over if Katrina hadn't been in his arms. An anime sweat drop formed on his brow and he glared down at Gohan. "Why didn't I know about this before?!"

Gohan shrugged. "Well, you never asked."

Another big anime sweat drop appeared. "So this is what happens with you too?" He asked. "You fall unconscious?"

"My daddy told me that that's what happens." Gohan replied.

"You mean you don't remember if you've ever gotten your tail pulled?" Piccolo raised an eye ridge.

"Not exactly..." Gohan murmured, scratching his little round chin. "I just remember waking up and not knowing when I fell asleep."

Piccolo looked down at Katrina. "Well, maybe she won't remember either. That way she won't be mad at me." He mumbled the last part so Gohan wouldn't hear him. "C'mon, let's go back to camp." He said and flew off towards the clearing, Gohan following.

When they landed, Piccolo laid Katrina down on the shaded ground of the large tree.

Gohan took his time looking around the clearing, this being the first time he had seen it. Finally, he walked over to Piccolo, who was kneeling down beside Katrina. "So, are you gonna cook dinner? Because I'm hungry..."

This time, nothing stopped Piccolo from falling over.

__

_Fire surrounded her, but it didn't seem to affect her. She reached out and grazed the flame with an open palm, but there was nothing. No burning sensation. No heat at all. It was just there._

_It slowly began to brighten and grow taller until it seemed that she was in a castle made entirely of the golden-red flames. She gazed up at the black smoke that covered the sky. She couldn't even smell whatever was burning. _

_Suddenly, she noticed the fire was parting in a few different ways. Two beings—one small, the other rather large—moved closer and closer towards her. She couldn't make out who they were, but she knew one thing was for sure: they were evil._

Katrina slowly opened her eyes to the sound of a crackling fire and the tempting, delicious smell of fish. Her vision was blurry at first, but then she finally made out what was around her. The sky was black and clear, and a small fire resided in front of her. Gohan sat, happily eating his dinner and humming a tune.

She was just about to ask him where Piccolo was when a sudden fish on a stick appeared before her from her left. She turned her head and saw him sitting next to her, with his own fish stick in his hand. "I got dinner." He declared.

Katrina stared at him for a moment, then she took the fish. "Well, you did cheat so you were the loser." She replied and took a dainty bite out of her fish.

Piccolo scowled. "I didn't cheat. It's not cheating when you don't know."

Katrina side-glanced him before taking another bite. "You still did it, so you lost and made dinner." She took another bite from her fish.

Piccolo's scowl deepened as he tore a big chunk of meat off from the fish bone. He chewed it slowly, still glaring at Katrina while doing so. Katrina smiled triumphantly and finished her fish on a stick.

Katrina knew she had to tell Piccolo about her dream, but she waited until Gohan was asleep. That took about an hour, so it was pretty awkward.

When he was finally asleep, Piccolo turned towards her. "So what was it about?"

Katrina stared at him quizzically, but she was answered when he tapped his finger on his head. Katrina sighed. She wished she had that much control over her telepathy. "It was...just strange."

"Even stranger than the full moon and the red eye?" Piccolo questioned, and she nodded.

"There was...fire...all over the place." She said, picking at the blades of grass beneath her. "But I didn't feel anything. It was like I wasn't even there...and then—" She cut herself short, trying to think of the proper words to say. "I saw these two figures, kind of coming towards me...I couldn't exactly see them...but I knew that they were there."

Piccolo nodded his head as if he understood, but Katrina wasn't sure if he really did. They remained silent for a long moment, and it became another awkward moment.

Piccolo finally spoke up. "I think it was just a premonition. Nothing to be truly worried about."

"But," Katrina responded, "What about the fire? It was all over the place." Katrina stared at him. "Is that what's gonna happen?"

Piccolo shrugged. "I suppose so." And that was that.

Katrina decided that she had had enough awkward moments with Piccolo for a while, so she stood up. "I'm gonna go get a drink. I'll be back soon." Piccolo nodded and closed his eyes.

Katrina's powers weren't that strong, but she could still sense a massive aura surround him as he sunk into meditation. She stared in awe at his power for another moment before taking her leave.

The pond wasn't too far away, but it was so dark that she couldn't see Gohan or Piccolo back at the camp. Katrina shrugged, knelt down and cupped her hands in the cold, fresh water.

She was taking a few sips when she noticed the moon's reflection in the pond water. She stared at it for a moment, then looked up at the sky. It was almost as if she was drawn towards it...

Piccolo slowly came out of meditation. He opened his eyes and found that Gohan was his only company. _If she got lost, I'm gonna laugh._ He thought to himself but a small thought of worry was still in his mind. He stood up, figured that Gohan would be fine, then started towards the pond.

"Kat?" He called out. "Kat, where are you?" He rolled his eyes when he got no answer and stood by the bank of the lake. He crossed his arms and looked around, but she wasn't around.

His sensitive ears picked up some movements in the surrounding forest. He turned and peered through the darkness. "Kat? Is that you?"

He didn't get a direct answer. All he heard was a few small growls and grunts. Suddenly, he saw a pair of glowing red eyes coming from the forest. Piccolo planted his feet firmly on the ground, not knowing exactly what he was going up against.

Out of the blue, a wild shriek echoed through the trees. Something leapt out of the forest at him. He didn't expect the attack, so he was pounced on by whatever was there. He managed to stop the beast from clawing him to death and he pushed it off of him.

"What the hell?" He stood back up and suddenly felt a cold liquid on his neck. He wiped it and saw that it was his own blood. "Son of a bitch..." He mumbled as he took off his turban and shoulder weights. He threw them aside and focused on the creature.

It was on all fours with jet black fur and a long, slender black tail. It began to hiss at Piccolo when he moved closer towards it.

"You're asking for it." Piccolo said as he fired a small energy blast at it. Quickly and swiftly, it jumped in the air and avoided it. As soon as it landed, it pounced again.

This time, Piccolo expected it and managed to nail it with another energy blast. It bounced backwards and skidded on the ground. When the dust settled, it was motionless.

"Well that was easy." Piccolo mumbled. He walked over towards the beast and picked it up by the nape of its neck. As soon as he did, the creature opened its red eyes and swiped its massive paw at Piccolo. Piccolo screamed in shock as the razor sharp claws pierced his chest and made a huge gash. He dropped the creature, but as soon as it landed, it made for another attack.

This time, it pinned Piccolo down completely. It growled low in its throat and stared at Piccolo with its glowing red eyes. Its massive paws were holding down his strong shoulders, and even he could not move with the weight of this massive creature.

He stared into its eyes long and hard and noticed that they seemed familiar. He searched deep within them and made a startling revelation.

"Holy shit..." he mumbled. "Katrina..."


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

The beast seemed to stiffen when Piccolo mentioned that name. It gave a throaty growl before inching closer towards his face.

Piccolo's expression remained solid. "It is you, isn't it?"

The beast gave him his answer by adding more pressure onto his shoulders and digging its claws into his fleshy muscle. He cried out in pain as the claws broke the skin. He could feel his blood oozing out from the gashes.

The beast's eyes widened slightly when it heard Piccolo's screamed, and it eased its pressure. Piccolo took the opportunity and shoved the creature away. It skidded on the ground slightly but regained its composure.

Piccolo stood up shakily. He could barely move his arms to attack, but at that point he didn't want to fight. "Katrina, you've got to listen to me!" He shouted back at the creature. "I don't know what happened, but I can help you! Just stop this!"

The creature picked its head up slightly and sniffed the air. After sniffing the air, it growled again and swished its tail back and forth.

_Great, now she smells my blood._ Piccolo thought as he shakily lifted his hand and laid it on his opposite shoulder. His blood was still trickling from the open wounds. He clenched his teeth from the searing pain on his chest where she has sliced him.

He stared into Katrina's glowing red eyes and sent out compassion towards her. The beast raised its shoulders when it sensed the open emotion. It began to sniff the air again.

Piccolo could sense that she was letting her guard slip away, but he didn't want to hurt her badly. He just wanted to figure out how to reverse whatever she was under.

_Wait a second--!_ He said to himself. _The red eyes...and the full moon!_ He turned away from the creature and looked towards the sky. Sure enough, a full moon hung in the black, clear sky. "That's it!"

He looked back over at Katrina, who was back on red alert. She growled loudly at him and started galloping towards him. Piccolo just laughed and took to the air as high as he could go.

"If I take out the moon, she'll revert back to her normal self." He said out loud. He gathered as much energy as he could and fired a huge energy blast towards the white orb in the sky.

It took a little time, but the energy blast finally reached the moon and set off a massive explosion in the sky. Piccolo shielded his eyes from the light and slowly made his way back towards the ground.

As soon as he landed, he could hear the creature shrieking loudly. He walked over towards his shoulder weights and ripped the cape off like he had before. Piccolo walked over towards the crying creature. He picked it up in his arms and wrapped the blanket around it.

It opened its eyes wide at Piccolo as he cradled it in his arms. The red dissipated from its eyes and slowly reverted to black. Its massive paws slowly transformed back into her hands, and the black fur slowly disappeared until her normal skin tone was showing. On its face, its nose shrank until it was normal size, and her elongated fangs began to retract. From the fur on top of its head her normal raven black hair formed.

It took a little while longer, but soon, she was reverted back to her normal self. Piccolo stood up, still cradling her in his arms and slowly walked back towards camp. Gohan was still asleep when he got back, and he was glad. Piccolo laid Katrina down on her stomach, reached under the blanket—which was her only covering at the moment—and grabbed a hold at her long black tail. "I think you're the cause of that little episode as well." He said and with a hard yank, her tail popped out. He threw it to the side and looked over at Gohan. "I don't even wanna know what you'd transform into if you saw the moon." He knelt down and pulled Gohan's tail off as well.

_There._ He thought, tossing the tails away. _Now with both tail and moon eliminated, there will be no chance of transforming ever again._ He walked back over towards Katrina and sat down. He sat her up against his shoulder and made sure that she would be alright. _Great, now I have to go out and get more clothes..._

Katrina awoke and immediately felt a pounding headache and sore muscles the next morning. She could barely move from underneath the white blanket.

She tilted her head and saw that Piccolo and Gohan were sparring in the open field. She watched the fight for as long as she could but her eyes kept shifting towards Piccolo's tall figure. Katrina smiled warmly as she watched him.

When she finally realized that she couldn't take her eyes off of him, her eyes widened. _Oh god..._ She thought to herself. _I think...I think I'm in love..._ She thought as a slight blush rose to her cheeks.

She stared at his glistening body and nodded. "Yep. I'm definitely in love." She whispered under her breath. She figured it would be safer to say out loud than in her mind.

When Katrina finally mustered up enough strength, she managed to sit up against the large tree. She wrapped the blanket tightly around her when she noticed that she was completely nude. That shock added to her headache, so she whimpered in pain and held her head to get rid of the dizzy spell that plagued her.

Piccolo must have felt her energy disturbance because he told Gohan that he was done. Gohan frolicked off towards the lake to wash off the sweat and dirt. Piccolo walked over to where Katrina sat and knelt down beside her. "How do you feel?"

"Like shit..." She mumbled, closing her eyes to try and rid herself of the pounding.

Piccolo shifted his position so he was sitting cross-legged in front of her. "Do you remember anything of last night?" He asked her quite frankly.

Katrina slowly shook her head. "No...I don't. Does it involve why I'm nude?"

Piccolo nodded, a light blush rising to his cheeks. "Yeah, it does. But before I tell you," He lifted his hand and gently placed it on the top of her head. Katrina had a confused look on her face when a bright, white light engulfed her entire body. When it was gone, she had on heavy training clothes. "There." He muttered, removing his hand from her head.

"How did you do that?"

"Little thing I picked up while growing up." He shifted uncomfortably when he mentioned his past.

Katrina removed the blanket and looked over her new ensemble. She had another black, three quarter sleeved shirt on but this time, a red sleeveless shirt was on top of it. Her pants were the same crimson color with a dark brown belt to top it off. Her boots were the typical style of the era but rather heavy. She also had her fighters' gloves on and the leather shined brightly in the sun. "Thanks." She said as sincerely as she could, but her energy level didn't permit her to do much.

"No problem." He grunted, crossing his arms in front of his strong chest.

"So..." Katrina started, "What exactly happened last night?"

Piccolo hesitated for a second, thinking how he should put it. "Well...um...to put it simply, that dream of yours came true."

Katrina stiffened and sat up slightly with wide eyes. "The fire one?!"

"No, no. Not that one." Piccolo shook his head and he watched as she relaxed back up against the tree. "The other one came true. The one with the moon and the red eyes."

"But...that one didn't make sense."

"It didn't," he corrected her, "But it does now. You see, the full moon does something to a saiyan. And if they have their tail, they transform. I don't know about a normal saiyan, but you transformed into some type of cat beast. Nearly mauled me to death..." He whispered the last part, but it didn't do any good.

Katrina sat up again. "Are you serious?" Her eyes filled to the brim with concern. "W-what did I do, exactly?"

Piccolo sighed. "It was nothing. I'm fine now." He started to stand up when Katrina reached out and grabbed his hand tightly. He stopped but didn't look down at her.

"Please...tell me what I did to you..." Katrina begged.

"I said not to worry about it." Piccolo said, losing Katrina's grip and walking away from her.

But Katrina was never the type to listen. She shakily stood up and began to follow him out into the clearing. She stumbled down a small hill and nearly collapsed.

Piccolo suddenly reached out before she fell down and held onto to her tightly. Katrina looked into his eyes for a moment, but then she turned her attention to his neck. He saw what she was looking at and gave up. He tilted his head so his neck was exposed, showing one of the many gashes.

Katrina gasped and covered her mouth with one hand. She laid her other hand unconsciously on his chest, but when he flinched, she saw part of another huge gash.

"Dear Kami..." She muttered. She stared back into Piccolo's face but she turned away and broke his tight hold on her. Tears began to stream down her flushed face and her head began to pound even more. She held her head in her hands as she began to walk away from him back towards the tree.

"Katrina, wait!" Piccolo called out and walked after her.

"Don't come near me, Piccolo!" She sobbed. "I'm a monster... I'm a monster..." She repeated over and over again.

Suddenly, Piccolo appeared before her and caught her. He brought her into his arms and made her look at him. "You're not a monster..." He told her. "It wasn't your fault..."

"But it was still me!" Katrina sobbed. "I still did that to you, Piccolo!"

"Shhh..." Piccolo hushed her and began wiping her tears away. "It doesn't matter now. What matters is that it won't even happen again, so you have nothing to fear."

"What are you talking about?" She asked, tears still dripping from her chin. "Of course it can happen again!"

Piccolo shook his head and stared into her teary eyes. "No, it can't and won't. First of all, the moon in gone. I destroyed it. And second of all, your tail is gone, which is what I think triggered the transformation." Piccolo wiped her face a little before adding, "It won't ever happen again."

Katrina looked down in disbelief that her tail was gone, but sure enough, nothing was there.

"See?" Piccolo said, rubbing her arms gently.

Katrina nodded. Suddenly, she buried her face in his neck and continued to cry. Piccolo stared down at her, suddenly going numb. Slowly, he brought her closer towards him and he held her quickly rising and falling shoulders. "Everything's going to be ok, Kat..." He muttered quietly. _Everything will be alright._


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

_Months Later..._

Katrina tried to land a nice punch to his jaw but he easily blocked it and threw her into the empty clearing. "You're gonna have to do better than that." He growled, wiping the sweat from his temple.

Katrina landed and immediately charged towards him. Right before reaching him, she disappeared from sight and reappeared right behind him. She nailed a kick to his back, sending him flying face first in the dirt. He grunted as he turned over but saw the bright light of an energy orb in his face. Katrina towered over him with a smirk as the energy orb grew brighter and bigger.

"Well, you're definitely getting better at this." Piccolo said and clasped his hand over hers, dissipating the energy in her hand. Katrina pulled him up to his feet with the same smirk on her face.

"You know, I think you're starting to let me win." She said turning from him.

Suddenly, she was lifted into an arm lock with her feet above the ground. "Hey!"

Piccolo laughed from behind her. "Letting you win, eh?" He grunted. "Try and get out of this one then."

"Ok, you asked for it." Katrina replied and rested her upraised hands behind his neck. She gathered up as much energy as she could and threw him down on the ground. He landed with a hard thud. Katrina laughed weakly and walked over towards his side. She gently nudged him with her foot. "Are we done yet?"

Suddenly, Piccolo reached out and grabbed her ankles. He pulled them out from underneath her and she fell with a loud crash. "Yeah, now we're done." He smirked.

Katrina snarled at him and pounced on him, pinning him down beneath her. "That was not fair!" She growled, attempting to be intimidating.

Piccolo just raised an eye ridge at her before starting to laugh. Katrina's glare finally broke and she started to laugh too. She rested her head on his chest and couldn't stop laughing. Piccolo just closed his eyes, draped an arm over her and continued to laugh.

Gohan trotted over towards where his companions lay. "So is it my turn yet?"

It was at that moment that Katrina realized that she was pinning Piccolo beneath her. Her face flushed a bright, cherry color and she immediately jumped off of him. She started to laugh to herself before getting up and scurrying away from Piccolo and Gohan.

Piccolo just stared at her with a curious look. "Teenagers..." He scoffed. He stood up and brushed off his gi.

Gohan looked over at his mentor. "So are you two going to get married soon?"

The loud crash sound that Piccolo made scared several birds away from their resting places and made the rabbits hurry away from their lunches. Even Katrina was curious and stared at her friends for a long moment before turning away.

Piccolo slowly got up. "Where...the hell...did you get that idea...?" _Or do I even want to know?_ He added in his thoughts.

"Well, my daddy and my mommy were best friends, and then they got married." Gohan said as innocently as possible. "You and Katrina are best friends, so when are you getting married?"

Piccolo smacked his forehead as his cheeks blushed. "We are not getting married, Gohan."

"Oh, you're not?" He asked, a little disappointed.

"No, we're not." _Where does this kid get these ideas?_ Piccolo thought, then added, _Oh, right, he's got a complete moron as a father._ "Let's just...get on with the training."

"But—"

"No more questions now MOVE!!" He shouted as he landed a punch to Gohan's face. Gohan flew backwards and skidded slightly on the ground. He stood back up but was treated to another onslaught. Gohan had been training but he wasn't able to dodge them all.

In the middle of it, Piccolo suddenly stopped and stared off into space. Gohan was curious but saw this as his only chance. He quickly stood up and tried to nail a kick to Piccolo's chest. Piccolo caught it and grabbed the collar of Gohan's shirt. He growled low in his throat and bared his teeth.

Then he suddenly snapped out of it and dropped Gohan on the ground. "Training's over."

Later that night, Gohan was sound asleep near the fire again. Katrina was trying to stay awake, waiting for Piccolo to return. He had suddenly vanished earlier, not telling anyone where he was going.

Katrina had tried to use her intuition like she had done that rainy night, but for some reason she couldn't reach him. Her eyelids were getting heavier by the second, and she wouldn't be able to hold them up much longer. Her head bobbed back and forth and she fazed in and out of sleep.

Finally, she gave in to the sand man's wishes and closed her eyes for what seemed like a few minutes. But when she woke up, she found herself laid out on the ground with Piccolo's cape covering her again. She slowly sat up and looked around for him, but didn't see him nearby.

She stood up and walked away from the dying campfire. Katrina slowly eased into the clearing and saw a familiar figure kneeling by the lake. She immediately recognized him and hurried over.

"Hey." She greeted him as she neared him.

He jumped slightly hearing her voice. He finished what he was doing and stood up. "Hey." He grunted and walked passed her.

Katrina automatically knew that something was up. She was about to follow him when she saw something reflecting off the moonlight in the grass. She kneeled down and touched the substance but already knew what it was by the scent.

It was blood.

Katrina stood back up and rushed after him. "What happened?"

"Nothing." He replied and kept walking. "I need to go meditate for a while, I'll see you in the morning."

Katrina suddenly reached out and grabbed his wrist. "You're not going anywhere until you tell me what happened."

But he shook her off forcefully. He turned around and growled, "I said it was nothing." His eyes widened a bit as if he was amazed at his own tone, then he turned back around and took off.

Katrina was speechless. _I haven't seen him that angry since when he— _She cut herself off and looked at the fading light of his energy trail. She took to the air and tried to follow it, but when she reached it, it was too faded to tell where he went. "Damn it." She mumbled and looked around her.

Everything was covered in darkness below her. She sighed sadly. "Damn it, Piccolo. Where are you?"

Then she closed her eyes. She could feel her power level rising and a soft aura glowing around her. Using her telepathy, which Piccolo was still teaching her how to control, she tried to extend her senses and picked up a weak signal.

Her eyes snapped open. "He's trying to mask his life force, but I can still sense him." She then took off in the direction of the faint signal.

Katrina landed a little distance away from where the signal was coming from. She walked cautiously, trying not to make a sound.

But when she saw him, she accidentally stepped on a small twig and snapped it in two. Piccolo's ears twitched and he turned his head. Katrina stepped out of the darkness of the forest and stopped.

"How did you find me?" Piccolo asked, speaking quietly so his tone wouldn't get out of control.

Katrina answered by tapping her temple. "Since you were under meditation, I could sense where you were," She said walking closer towards him. "Even though you were trying to mask your life force."

Piccolo nodded and bowed his head grimly.

Katrina stepped in front of him and sat down. She tried to look into his eyes but he hid them. "Piccolo, I'm here."

"I know you are."

"No, I mean I'm here if you need me."

Piccolo remained silent.

"Please tell what's wrong." Katrina asked. "Please..."

Piccolo still didn't respond. Instead, he stared down at his hands.

Katrina looked down at his hands. Cautiously, she reached out to take them into her own. He wanted to pull them away, but didn't.

Katrina looked at the back of his hands and saw that his knuckles were scraped and bruised pretty badly. Then she turned them over and saw that his palms were cut too, some of them were still bleeding.

"Why?" She whispered, her throat tied in a knot. "Why did you do this?"

Piccolo still would not answer her.

"Piccolo please!" She begged, her voice cracking. "Please just tell me why."

Piccolo hesitated, then sighed in defeat. "Because I heard _him_..."

"You heard who?"

Piccolo paused a long moment before saying, "My father."

Katrina stiffened. She was about to reply when he cut her off.

"I heard him in my head, but that doesn't matter..." He said. "It was still _him_..."

Katrina leaned closer towards him, trying to see into his eyes, but he bowed his chin deeper into his chest. "What did he say?"

This time he looked up at her. His eyes were so hurt and full of pain. "He told me to kill everyone...he told me..." He turned his head to the side. "He told me to kill you and Gohan..."

"But you didn't...so why—"

Piccolo suddenly stood up and walked away from her. He leaned on a nearby tree and stared out into the darkness of the forest surrounding them. "I almost did." He replied.

Katrina stood up and walked over towards him. She gently rested her hand on his back. "What do you mean?"

"When Gohan and I were training...that's when I heard him. Gohan thought that I was faking something, so he tried to attack me. My...my instincts took over...at one point...I think I wanted to kill him..."

Katrina stepped in front of him. "Don't say that..."

"Why not, it's the truth." Piccolo snarled and walked away from her again.

"You're lying." Katrina said, walking after him.

"No, I'm not."

"Then it wasn't you!" She said. Piccolo stopped and turned slightly to see her. Her hands were locked in fists down at her sides and she had a hurt expression on her face. "I refuse to believe that you wanted to kill Gohan."

Piccolo looked down at the ground beneath him. "Why don't you go back to—"

"Because I want to help you." Katrina interrupted. "I won't leave you..."

Piccolo looked up at her as she came closer towards him. "I don't think anyone can help me now..."

Katrina stopped right in front of him. "I know how I can help."

Piccolo was a little confused but then remembered what he had taught her a little while ago. "Kat, no. It's too da—"

But before he could finish, Katrina laid her hand on his forehead and entered his mind.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Katrina's vision slowly began to focus until she could see clearly again. She looked up from where she lay and saw Piccolo towering over her, his arms crossed and a mean glare set on his face. "I was _going_ to say that it's too dangerous, but you didn't listen."

"Well it worked, didn't it?" Katrina mumbled, sitting up. "We are inside you're mind, right?"

Piccolo rolled his eyes. "That's not the point." He uncrossed his arms and helped Katrina stand up. "The point is that you never listen to me...and you should."

"Well since we are both here, we should start looking." Katrina replied and walked past him into more darkness.

"Start looking for what?" Piccolo began to follow her. "We don't even know what to—"

"I do." Katrina interrupted. "You said you heard your father's voice, so we're looking for your father."

"Not to burst your bubble, Katrina," He started, "But my father is dead."

"Yes, to the outside world." Then she stopped and turned towards him. "But he's not dead in here." She reached out and touched his forehead, then turned back around and continued walking.

Piccolo shook his head. "Katrina, we are not going to find him in here."

Katrina stopped and sighed in aggravation. She turned around sharply. "Ok Mr. Pessimistic, if we're not going to find him, then just get us out of here and you can continue being miserable because I am not going to try and help you again."

Piccolo hesitated and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Well...you see...I don't exactly know how to get us out of here..."

Katrina's eye twitched. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"This was all theoretical, I've never actually done this before."

"Then why bother teaching me about it?!" Katrina shouted.

"Well I didn't think you'd be that stupid as to try and pull it off!"

"Well you're the idiot that taught it to me while it was a theory!!!"

"I say you're both idiots for not sensing me come close." An eerie voice from the shadows called out. Suddenly, a huge orange blast came out of the darkness and nailed Piccolo. He flew backwards for a long time before the energy dissipated into the air.

Footsteps echoed off of the black nothingness until a figure came into view. Katrina put up her guard immediately until she could clearly see the culprit.

He looked very similar to Piccolo, but he looked older and some light wrinkles lined his brow. His skin was a shade darker than Piccolo's and his wardrobe was slightly different. Instead of Piccolo's dark, purple gi, this one had a dark blue gi with the Japanese symbol of Demon on the front.

"So you're King Piccolo..." Katrina said callously.

"And you're the girl that plague's my son's mind..." He replied with a sneer. "Yes, I have seen you all too often in here, Katrina. You might even say that my son—"

Suddenly, a huge yellow blast appeared from behind Katrina and hit King Piccolo hard. Piccolo limped up to Katrina's side. "That's for hitting me, old man." He grunted.

"You ok?" Katrina asked.

Piccolo nodded, but she could tell that he was lying.

King Piccolo recovered quickly. "Now was that really necessary son?"

"I don't know," he replied. "Was it necessary to take control of my mind earlier and tell me to kill everyone?"

"I'm only doing what I think is best for my son." The Demon Kind replied. Suddenly, he fired a quick blast at Katrina, who didn't have enough time to dodge it. It was powerful enough to knock her several feet away.

"Kat!!" Piccolo called out, but he turned his attention to the king. "You bastard!!" He roared and lunged at his father.

But King Piccolo stood his ground and smirked. He raised his hand out towards Piccolo and slightly closed his fingers. Piccolo immediately stopped in mid-flight and fell to the ground, screaming in pain and holding his head.

King Piccolo laughed, his hand still outstretched towards Piccolo. "You foolish boy, have you forgotten that I control half of your mind? You and that little cat friend of yours walked right into my trap, and now I can punish you for all that you've done!" His closed his fingers slightly more, and the effect on Piccolo was horrible. Tears ran down his face as the pressure on his head grew worse.

Katrina slowly stood up. Something in her changed when she heard her best friend's cries of agony. An overwhelming power flooded through her veins and she glared hatefully at King Piccolo. "You may be able to punish him, but you can't do the same to me!!" She flew at King Piccolo and landed a clean kick to his chest. He flew backwards and skidded on the ground.

The attack released the pressure on Piccolo and he was able to slowly stand up and walk over to Katrina. "Thanks..." He whispered, trying to catch his breath.

But King Piccolo stood back up and outstretched his hand once again. Piccolo fell to his knees in agony as the pressure continued.

"You just don't quit, do you!" Katrina shouted. She was about to attack him again when he interrupted her.

"If you come any closer, I'll kill him!" King Piccolo threatened.

Katrina narrowed her eyes. "You wouldn't dare...if you kill him, you kill yourself!"

"Actually no, I wouldn't die." He replied. "I would become the dominant side and would be able to control him completely. You wouldn't want to see your precious friend be controlled by me, would you?"

Katrina looked down at Piccolo, who was still crying from his mind torture. Finally, she let her guard down and lowered her power level. "All right. You win..."

King Piccolo chuckled and lowered his hand. "I used to hear that a lot in my day, it's still so nice to hear...from the both of you..."

Katrina blinked. "Both of us...?" Suddenly, she was thrown into a strong headlock from behind. She struggled to keep breathing but it was a hard task. She was lifted up off of the ground, her feet kicking empty air. She managed to turn her head slightly but what she saw she didn't want to see. "P-Piccolo?! What...are you...doing?!?!"

His face was as stern as a stone, and his eyes held a tint of red emptiness.

King Piccolo laughed. "It seems that he's under the impression that if he didn't give in to me, I would kill you. Now where would he get that sort of idea from, hm?"

"You...you tricked us both!!" Katrina struggled to say, but Piccolo's headlock was too strong.

King Piccolo smirked as he came closer. "Well something had to be done. With you gone, my son will have no attachment to the outside world, enabling me to take his mind over at the peak of his depression. Then the world would once again fear the name King Piccolo, as it should!" He stopped when he reached them and laid a hand on Piccolo's arm. "Then he will have done his father proud..."

Suddenly, Piccolo loosened his headlock and he turned his head to look at King Piccolo. "Good plan, but there's one thing wrong with it..." He smirked, then uncurled one hand from his headlock and pointed it in King Piccolo's face. "I have no father..."

Then he unleashed a huge, white blast that decapitated King Piccolo. His body fell flat on the ground and his purple blood oozed out of his open neck.

Piccolo released Katrina from his hold, but she immediately fell to her knees and struggled for air. Piccolo kneeled down beside her and rested a hand on her quickly rising shoulders. "You'll be alright, Kat. Just take deep breaths..."

Suddenly, she shoved him on the ground and pinned him again. "If you EVER do that again, I will never forgive you." She hissed coldly.

Piccolo thought she was pretending again, so he began to laugh lightly. But when she didn't start laughing, he stopped. Instead, she stood up and walked away from him. Piccolo quickly stood back up and followed her. "Kat, I had to make him think that he was controlling me, otherwise I would have never got the chance."

"You could have told me." She spat back.

"I couldn't because he could have read our minds like open books."

"Is that the only reason for putting me in that headlock?" Katrina turned around sharply and eyed him.

"What are you talking about?" Piccolo asked while stopping in front of her.

"You've always said that I'm a pest and—"

"You actually take that seriously?" Piccolo raised an eye ridge at her. "I'm only kidding when I say that..."

Katrina stared at him coldly. "How do I know that's the truth?"

"Remember when my—I mean, King Piccolo said that if he killed you, I would have no attachment to the rest of the world?"

Katrina nodded and self-consciously rubbed her slightly sore neck.

"It was all true..." He replied.

Katrina looked into his eyes. "Really?"

Piccolo nodded, but then decided to chance the subject. "Now, let's see if we can find a way out of here..."

"Well...I was thinking about that too..." Katrina said, stepping closer towards him. "And I say, let's just leave the way we came in." And without another word, she rested a hand on his forehead and closed her eyes.

When she reopened them, she found herself at the familiar scenery of the clearing. Piccolo's cape was draped over her again, and it looked like the fire had died hours ago. Piccolo and Gohan were sparring nearby, but when he saw that she was awake, he stopped and sent Gohan on his way.

As he was walking over towards her, Katrina knew something had changed about him. He still looked the same, but something about his aura was a little different. It seemed lighter. Whatever it was, Katrina knew it was for the best. She stood up and met him as he walked over.

"I've got good news and bad news, so which do you want to hear first?" He said when he reached her.

"I don't care." Katrina shrugged.

"Well the good news is that King Piccolo no longer talks to me in my head, but the bad news is that I still have the urge to kill Gohan and will continue that urge if he doesn't stop asking me what happened last night."

Katrina giggled. "Don't kill him, we may need him for the battle."

"Yeah, that's the only thing that's stopping me." Piccolo grumbled. "He'll probably pester you too, so keep that in mind."

Katrina laughed and nodded. Then she lowered her tone and said, "So is he really gone?"

Piccolo sighed. "Well, he doesn't talk to me anymore, but I can still feel his presence in the back of my mind. I think I will for the rest of my life. As long as it never overwhelms me I think I'll be fine." Then he reached in his pocket and pulled out a light green gem stone with a long string as a chain. "Here. It's a little thank you present." He stepped closer and tied the string behind her neck.

Katrina picked up the gem and stared at it in amazement. "It's beautiful." Then she looked back up at Piccolo and wrapped her arms around his neck tightly. "Thank you." She whispered.

Piccolo hesitated, but slowly wrapped his arms around her and held her close. He buried his face in her shoulder and mumbled, "Thank you...for being there..."

Piccolo's grip tightened before he let go of her. He blushed slightly before turning away. Katrina still stared at him with a smile on her face. Suddenly, it faded and she looked around worriedly. "Piccolo?"

Piccolo turned around when he heard the fear in her voice. "What is it?"

"Where's Gohan?"


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

Piccolo raised an eye ridge at her. "He probably went off somewhere...why?"

Katrina rested a hand over her heart and stared at Piccolo with a pained expression. "Something's wrong...I just know it. We've got to go find him now!" She was about to pass him to go into the clearing when he caught her arms and held her back.

"Wait a minute, Kat." He said. "What do you mean something's wrong? How do you know?"

"I just do, ok?!" Katrina exhaled. "I always get these feelings when something's up."

"Have these feelings of yours ever been wrong?" Piccolo said slowly, trying to calm her down.

Katrina shook her head. "No, none of them."

Piccolo looked off into the distance, then looked back at Katrina and nodded. "All right, I'll go out and look for him. You stay here just in case, ok?"

Katrina hesitated, wanting to tell him that four eyes were better than two, but finally she caved and nodded her head. Piccolo patted her arms as a brief farewell and took to the air.

Piccolo stopped and extended his senses. _I should be able to sense Gohan's life force...but there's nothing out there..._ He thought, his head turning in frantic search. Then he heard a few gunshots to the east. Without anything else to follow, he took off towards the ear piercing noise.

Gohan skidded on the dirt floor and came to a stop in front of a tree. He sat up slightly, his head throbbing and small trickles of blood coming from his nose and mouth.

The four men in front of him sneered, one with tears still in his eyes. "The bastard kid actually broke my hand! I can't fucking believe it!!" He howled, holding his massively twisted hand.

Gohan slowly got to his feet and tried to stay determined. "What you were doing was wrong! Killing defenseless animals for fun is always wrong!"

"Somebody shut that fucking kid up!" The man with the broken hand shouted, and the other three began to close in on him. They took the butts of their shotguns and savagely beat the four year old down until he was curled up in a little ball crying.

"Hey Buck, shoot the kid already, I want to get some more hunting in before dark."

"Me?! I can't shoot a kid, I got kids of my own, ya know."

"Do you think I fucking give a shit?! No!! So shoot the brat and leave him for the wolves!!"

The man in the red coat gulped and brought his shotgun down so it was aimed at the quivering kid. He was about to pull the trigger when a sudden yellow beam knocked the gun out of his hands. Two more came out of nowhere and knocked the other guns away from their owners.

"I suggest that you leave the kid alone." A dark, scratchy voice ricocheted off of the surrounding trees.

"Why don't you come out and make us, ya mother fu—"

He was cut short when Piccolo came through the trees and stood before Gohan. "Either leave now or leave in pieces, it's your choice." He growled.

"Oh, so scary mister. I'm shaking in my hunting boots." The man in the blue coat replied.

Piccolo shrugged. "Fine then." Suddenly, he disappeared and reappeared before the man with the broken hand. He cleanly landed a quick punch to his gut and let him double over. Piccolo turned back around and landed a punch to the man in the blue coat's face.

Gohan hesitantly opened his eyes and watched as Piccolo pulverized the hunters down to the ground. His eyes wavered as he gazed in awe.

Piccolo stopped after he was sure that none of them would get up again. He walked over Gohan and knelt down beside him. "You ok kid?"

Gohan nodded slowly. His face was contorted because he refused to let Piccolo see him cry. Piccolo helped him stand back up but when he did, Gohan caved like a child should have. To Piccolo's surprise, Gohan wrapped his chubby little arms around what they could of Piccolo's neck and he sobbed in Piccolo's chest.

Usually, Piccolo would have shoved him away and told him to grow up. But he didn't. Instead, he took pity on the young half saiyan and he let him cry. He knew that this wasn't his normal behavior, and he had one person to blame for it: Katrina. He half smiled to himself. _Thanks, Kat._

It was a little while after dark had settled in when Piccolo returned with Gohan in his arms. Katrina rushed over towards them both. "I got so worried when you didn't come back, I was gonna go out looking for you." She took a look at Gohan and saw that he was pretty messed up. "Is he ok?"

"He'll be fine. A couple days rest is all he needs." Piccolo said, placing the child in Katrina's arms. She carried him back towards where she had started a fire and covered him up with the blanket.

"What happened?" Katrina asked as she sat down near the fire. Piccolo joined her side soon after.

"From what I could understand, he wanted to go get dinner for us when he saw these guys hunting. At first, he was going to leave it alone because he though that they were hungry or something. But then they just left the bodies where they lay, so he tried to talk to them. Things led to another, and Gohan broke somebody's hand. When I got there, they were beating him with their shotguns."

"Poor kid..." She said with a pained expression.

"He's a brave one, I'll tell you that." Piccolo replied.

"That's because he looks up to you," Katrina said, turning back to look at him. "...a whole lot."

Piccolo thought about it, then shrugged.

Katrina laughed lightly. "You're just one big role model."

"Don't tell me you look up to me too..." Piccolo smirked.

"Well I have to, you're taller than me." She giggled. Piccolo frowned and shoved her slightly, but started laughing too. Katrina pushed him back, continuing the small battle. It carried on for a few more seconds before both opponents fell on the ground next to each other.

Silence draped over the pair like a wet blanket, and Katrina had to resist the urge to twiddle her thumbs. She stared up at the black sky for a moment, then finally said, "I do..."

Piccolo turned his head towards her. "What?"

She looked over at him and repeated, "I do look up to you..." Then she lightly attempted to push him. "So don't go do anything stupid."

Piccolo smirked and resumed looking at the night sky above them. Katrina gazed upon him for a few more minutes before sliding closer towards him. She laid her head on his shoulder and rested her hand on his chest.

He looked over at her confusingly. "Kat, what—?"

"Oh shut up, Mr. Role Model." She grumbled, squirming around trying to get comfortable.

Piccolo scoffed. "Oh, first I'm Mr. Pessimistic, now I'm Mr. Role Model? I must be a schizophrenic."

Katrina giggled, still trying to get comfortable. Finally, she managed to accomplish her goal and prepared to fall asleep.

Piccolo smirked and wrapped his outstretched arm around her shoulders. "Are you finally comfortable?"

"Yes, thank you." She muttered, already feeling the effects of her fatigue. "Piccolo?" She asked suddenly.

"Yes?"

"Do you think we're going to be ready when they come?"

Piccolo pondered for a moment before replying. "We'll just have to keep training and—"

"That's not what I asked." She said, lifting her head to look him in the eyes. "Do you think we'll be ready?"

Piccolo hesitated, then lightly smiled. He rubbed her shoulders gently and replied, "I think we'll be fine."

"And...what if we're not?" She asked, cocking her head slightly to the side.

"Don't worry," he answered. "I won't let anything happen to you...I promise..."

Katrina smiled sweetly and laid her head back down on his shoulder. In no time at all, she was sound asleep.

Piccolo gazed upon her for a moment before returning his eyes to the stars. His eyes narrowed in a slight glare as he looked straight up at a new, dim, flickering star in the blackness of the night. He looked down at Katrina again and brought her as close as possible to him. _I'm not gonna let anything happen, Kat._


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

When Katrina awoke, she immediately knew that she was alone again. She could feel the cool blades of grass on the side of her face and knew that when she would move, their imprints would remain on her skin. She opened her eyes and sat up, shaking the bugs and loose blades of grass from her hair. It had been some time since she had washed up under the waterfall, so she decided to do that first.

She stood up to go towards to lake when she saw Piccolo poised above the lake in his usual meditating stance. She frowned as she walked over. _So much for privacy..._

Katrina stopped by the bank of the lake and looked up at him, knowing that he would sense her presence.

Piccolo did open his eyes and he stared down at her. "What is it?"

"I wanna take a bath, do you think you could go someplace else?"

"We all want something, but sometimes we can't have it until we earn it."

"I think I've earned just about a week off of training for all that I've done for you."

Piccolo floated down towards her, still in his meditation position. "Well, you can't do that...but I guess you've earned a bath..." He uncrossed his legs and landed down on the bank next to her. "Don't be too long, we have training to catch up on." He said over his shoulder as he walked away.

Katrina stared at him for a moment, making sure that he wasn't going to look back and sneak a peek. Then she shook her head. _Nah, he wouldn't. He's not perverted like that...I hope._ She thought as she took off her two shirts. She removed the rest of her clothing and slowly walked into the very cold water.

When she got about waist deep, she dipped under the water so her body would get used to the lake's temperature. When she came back up, she stepped over towards the waterfall and began scrubbing the dirt from her skin. She then flipped her hair in front of her face and started washing her thick, saiyan hair.

Suddenly, the hair on the nape of her neck began to stand up and she felt an eerie chill slowly move down her spine. She turned her head to look around, feeling as though she was being watched.

Feeling nervous and panicky, Katrina quickly got out of the water and put her clothes back on. She was about to run over towards the camp when the awful feeling in her heart returned to her. The sudden feeling almost knocked her off her feet, so she stumbled slightly trying to get a clear view of the camp.

But when she looked, she saw that Piccolo was meditating and Gohan was just getting up. Slightly confused, she moved towards where Piccolo sat. He felt her disturbed presence, so he snapped out of his meditation and stood up to meet her. "Kat what's wrong?"

The striking pain in her heart was leaving her with a minimized lung capacity, so she was panting heavily. "Something...is gonna..." But before she could finish, she collapsed right into Piccolo's arms.

"Oh no!" Gohan panicked as he ran over towards them. Katrina's limp body was slightly heavy, so Piccolo fell to his knees with Katrina in his lap.

"Kat??" He called to her worriedly. "Kat, c'mon, answer me!"

Piccolo's distant calling was the last thing she heard before she completely blacked out into nothingness.

_Katrina felt like she was going to vomit. Her whole body ached from an inexplicable beating. Her eyes stung and her head was pounding furiously. Carefully, she stood up with whatever strength she could conjure up._

_Suddenly, she heard a distant roar. It shook the ground beneath her feet, almost making her lose her balance. But it was the massive wind that knocked her off her feet. She fell backwards and landed hard on the ground. _

_Tears burned in her eyes as the wind kept growing stronger. A strange light came from what seemed to be the source of this power, and it kept getting bigger and brighter. She was confused, yet frightened beyond belief. Then suddenly, the light began to come towards her at an immeasurable speed. That's when she knew._

_She knew that she was going to die._

_The massive light seemed to create a vacuum, for she couldn't hear anything except her own fast paced breathing. _

_The light couldn't have been more than 15 feet away, when it was suddenly blocked out partially. At first, she couldn't tell what it was that separated her and the energy wave._

_Then she realized that it was a who._

_His voice echoed through her mind. "Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you...I promise..."_

_"NOOO!!!"_

Katrina awoke with the start and felt that same, massive body ache that she experienced in her dream. Her forehead was pounding and caked with a thin layer of sweat. Her throat tightened and her stomach was in knots, just like she had felt with the dream.

Everything around her was a blur, and she couldn't hear much of anything either. But once everything focused again, she saw Gohan training in the clearing by himself. She was about to sit up and look around for Piccolo when she felt a gentle hand on her forehead holding her back.

"Don't strain yourself, Kat, you may faint again."

She heard his voice but couldn't pin point his location until she felt him shift slightly. She tilted her head a little and noticed that she was propped up in his lap with the blanket draped over her.

She strained to look up at him and muttered weakly, "Piccolo...I—"

"We can talk about it later, Kat." Piccolo interrupted quietly. "But for now, you should just rest up."

Katrina stared at him faintly for another moment before burying her face in the ruffle of his collar. Piccolo could sense that something was seriously disturbing her, so he rested his hand on her temple and sent energy to his finger tips to try and soothe her thoughts.

In a matter of minutes, she was relaxed. Piccolo breathed a sigh of relief, but his heart ached on the inside. _Those saiyans will be here in a little more than a month, and we're still no where near tapping into her full power..._ He thought grimly. _I don't want to her to get hurt, but if she doesn't stop having these visions soon..._ His thoughts trailed when he felt her move somewhat closer towards him. He came to the conclusion that she probably sensed his uneasiness, but didn't have enough energy to do anything.

_I have to remember to block my emotions when I'm near her... _Piccolo thought as he rubbed her shoulder gently. _Then again, even when I do block she can still read me like a book._ He smirked slightly and shook his head, wondering how he allowed himself to get this close to someone.

But when he stopped and looked down at the sleeping saiyaness on his shoulder, his grin faded into a frown. His eyes saddened dramatically and he laid his cheek on the top of her head. _I shouldn't have gotten so close..._ he thought after he closed his eyes.

_Why not?_

The sudden reply almost made Piccolo jump. He lifted his head off of Katrina's so he could look down at her. _You're supposed to be resting._

_How can a girl rest if all her pillow does is lump up and worry?_ She replied.

_So I guess you heard everything, huh?_

_When exactly were you going to tell us about the saiyans?_

_Soon enough._

Katrina finally lifted her head to look at him. _Why don't I believe you?_

_'Cause you know me too damn well._ Piccolo answered. _Great, first I have to block my emotions, now I have to block my telepathy all together?_

_That sounds about right._ Katrina retorted as she laid her head back down on his shoulder. _Now stop worrying, it makes you lumpy and stiff._

"I'm not lumpy." He said sternly.

"Pillows don't talk..." Katrina replied tiredly.

"Then maybe you won't have me as a pillow, you'll have the ground."

"The ground isn't as lumpy as you are."

"Oh that's it!" Piccolo chuckled. He grabbed her shoulders and playfully shoved her on the ground.

"Hey!" Katrina laughed. She pounced on his back and wrapped her arms around his neck tightly. "That wasn't nice, I'm supposed to be resting."

"Then go to sleep and quit complaining." Piccolo answered.

"Ok, I promise not to call you lumpy anymore." Katrina giggled in his ear. "Will you still be my pillow?"

Piccolo groaned and rolled his eyes. "Fine, but you better sit still and sleep."

Katrina released Piccolo's neck from her grasp and crawled around to be next to him. He took off his turban and his shoulder weights and tossed them aside. He laid down on his back and patted the ground next to him to tell her to lie down.

Katrina followed and rested her head on his shoulder again. Piccolo grabbed the blanket and draped it over her.

She tried to fall asleep but couldn't seep into her dreams. After a long time, she lifted her head to look at her pillow. "Piccolo?"

"Hm?"

"If...if you know that something's going to happen to someone...what do you do?"

"Usually the future can't be changed, what you see is usually what happens." He replied, still staring up at the sky. "Even when you think you're changing it, you're just following what's supposed to happen." Then he turned his head to look at her. "Why?"

Katrina's eyes lowered. "No reason..."

"It has something to do with your vision, doesn't it?"

Katrina didn't wish to answer. Instead, she laid her head back on his shoulder and drew the blanket closer towards her chin. Piccolo watched her for a moment until he felt her aura dim into her subconscious. He could have just probed her mind to find out what was bothering her, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.

_She'll tell me...she can't hide it for ever..._


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

The weeks passed like days to them, but when it was the final week of their year together, time couldn't have gotten any slower. The anticipation was eating away at Katrina and Piccolo, for they didn't tell Gohan yet when the saiyans would arrive. They figured it would be easier if he just found out that very day, which was drawing closer. After all, ignorance is bliss.

The pain of the anticipation was worse for Katrina, for she was hiding more than what Piccolo suspected. She still hadn't told him of her haunting visions, but thankfully she never fainted from them again. Unfortunately however, they came to her in nightmares.

She woke up again in her cold sweat only two days from their arrival. The impact of her nightmares were growing worse and worse as each day ended. She could already feel the vomit rising in her throat as she raced over to the lake.

The only thing she could do was kneel by the bank of the lake and throw up. The taste in her mouth was so horrible that she retched for some time afterwards.

Tears burned in her eyes as she dipped her hands into the cool water and gulped up as much as she could. The water only made the taste in her mouth worse, but it was her only solution. Once her stomach held as much water that she could tolerate, she shakily returned to her feet and stumbled back towards camp.

She was about to sit down when a voice came from the enveloping darkness.

"Now I know that didn't come from the fish."

She turned her head and watched as Piccolo neared her. He had been wearing his turban and shoulder weights more often now, making them heavier each day to prepare. He stopped when he was in front of her.

"I just don't feel well, ok?" She said quickly, turning away from him.

He caught her easily and forced her to face him. "You haven't been feeling well for the past month, Katrina, that excuse isn't going to work this time." He replied. "You've been waking up in the middle of the night for a long time now and I want to know why."

"It's nothing really, just the anxiety." She answered, shaking his grip loose. She was about to walk past him when he grabbed her arm again.

"You've haven't really talked to me since that day, Katrina." He told her. "The day of your last vision, remember?"

"Of course I remember, Piccolo, I'm not that dumb." She snapped back a little harsher than she wanted.

Piccolo was unfazed. "You know, if you keep things locked away for a long time, it can make you sick."

"There's nothing to tell—"

"Oh c'mon, Kat!" He hollered. He turned her around so she was facing him again and he held on to her shoulders tightly. "I know something's up. Just because you can read me doesn't mean that I can't read you too. Ever since that day, you've avoided talking to me at all costs unless I sat you down myself. You've always told me about your visions before, what makes this one so different?"

But Katrina remained silent and lowered her eyes.

Piccolo sighed and rested his forehead on her own. "Kat...please..." He begged. "You've been there for me...let me be there for you..."

Katrina stiffened and looked up at him. "Don't you see?" She asked. "That's what I don't want."

"What do you mean?"

Katrina's eyes wavered. "That day, I realized that I'm too dependent on you. You were right, we probably shouldn't have gotten so close...and maybe that's my fault...but for the past month, I've been trying to become independent so you won't have to protect me when that battle comes." She could feel the tears rising, so she lowered her head.

She could sense that Piccolo was trying to mask his hurt, but it still flooded the clearing. "Is...is that what you really want?"

Katrina nodded with her head down, and she could feel the tears fall down her cheeks and onto the grass under her feet.

Suddenly, she felt his muscular arms come around her tightly. She felt the fluff of his collar brush pass her face when she lifted her face. "Why are you doing this?" She asked, her voice cracking.

"Because I care." He whispered in her ear. His grip tightened slightly when his head lowered. "Because I care."

Katrina didn't know how to react. Her heart told her to just fall into his arms and hold on to him forever, but her mind told her to push him away so that just maybe, the future wouldn't come to pass. He wouldn't have to die for her.

She didn't make a decision, instead she caved in and just cried. She buried her face in his collar and cried uncontrollably. Piccolo just held onto her tightly throughout all the tears.

After a long time, Katrina felt her stomach twisting and she could feel her throat tighten. Piccolo sensed her queasiness and loosened his hold on her. "You're still kind of sick, huh?"

Katrina nodded and noticed that she had been clutching his shirt the entire time.

Piccolo rubbed her arms gently. "I know this little remedy that may help your stomach, and the ingredients shouldn't be too far away. You think you can hold out for another minute or two?"

Katrina nodded again and slowly uncurled her fingers from his shirt. Piccolo nodded and walked off into the forest.

Katrina stepped back and sat down with her back against the tree. She took a hold of the gem that Piccolo gave her and saw that it looked even more beautiful in the moonlight.

_What am I supposed to do? _She secretly asked herself. _Do I push him away for him to live...or..._ Tears flooded her eyes but she quickly wiped them away on the back of her arm. She sighed deeply and closed her eyes. She started to whisper a little tune that she had known all her life,

"_Dandan cono si nuh ryona,_

_Koni tigua su nah luce._

_Dandan cono si nuh ryona,_

_Veras con sine ti kon."_

Piccolo, not being that far away, stopped short when he heard what she was singing. He made sure that he had gathered everything that he needed and headed back to camp. He saw her sitting against the tree clutching her gem.

"What was that?" He asked so suddenly that it made Katrina jump.

She blushed slightly. "It's a little tune that I've known all my life. I may not have the best voice, but it's just something that comforts me..."

Piccolo sat down in front of her. "I didn't mean it that way...it's just...those are Namekian words...that's my language."

Katrina blinked. "Really? Do you know what it means?"

Piccolo thought for a moment, then said, "Calm yourself my little—what was that last word?"

"_Ryona_."

Piccolo shook his head. "Never heard that word before. But anyway," He paused in translation, then continued, "There's no need to cry, calm yourself my little whatever, I will always be there."

Katrina clutched the gem a little tighter. "It sounds like a lullaby..." She mumbled. "My mother probably used to sing it to me..."

"But why would it be in Namekian?" Piccolo thought out loud. "And what does _ryona_ mean?"

Katrina wasn't listening to him. She was staring off into space, seeing if she could remember anything of where that song came from. But she got nothing in return. Finally, she returned her attention to Piccolo. "That was probably a little embarrassing, huh? Sorry."

Piccolo shrugged. "Don't worry about it." Then he pulled out a few herbs from his pockets. "I need to go mix these with some water, then it'll be ready." He stood up and walked over towards the lake.

Katrina watched him leave but then returned her thoughts to her lullaby. _I wonder why Piccolo couldn't translate that one word. _She thought deeply. _It wouldn't be in another language, that would just be dumb. _

She was interrupted when Piccolo held out a small canteen towards her. "It may taste bad, but it'll probably help your stomach."

Katrina took it and drank it cautiously. It actually didn't taste half bad, considering that she had only drunk water for the passed year. She gave the canteen back to Piccolo and let the pasty liquid slide down into her stomach.

"Give it a little time." Piccolo said while moving next to her. He gazed at her for a long time before saying, "You're still not going to tell me about your vision, are you?"

Katrina's eyes lowered as she bowed her head away from his gaze. "When it happens," She finally looked over at him. "You'll know..."

Piccolo stared into her eyes compassionately, then replied, "You should try and get some sleep, Kat."

She opened her mouth to say something, but decided not to. Instead, she rested her head sadly on his shoulder and draped an arm over him. She didn't really want to fall asleep, but she knew that he would force her if he had to. She closed her eyes and felt his arm come around her waist, his hand resting on her stomach. His fingers gently rubbed her now muscular stomach, and she could feel his soft breathing on her forehead.

Katrina shut her eyes tightly to prevent the tears from slipping through. _If any one of my visions are going to be wrong..._ She thought, _Please let this one be it..._


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

Katrina awoke slowly, not even remembering when she had fallen asleep. When she opened her eyes she realized that Piccolo was still with her, his arm tightly wrapped around her waist. She would have lifted her head, but his was still resting on hers.

But right on cue, he lifted his head and softly nuzzled her forehead. It almost sounded like he was purring as his nose brushed against her forehead. Katrina couldn't help but smile. She lifted her hand and softly stroked his cheek.

Suddenly, he stopped and stared down at her. He cleared his throat and whispered, "Good Morning."

Katrina gazed up at him. "Morning." She clutched his collar lightly. "I thought you'd be training by now."

Piccolo smiled. "Nothing new will happen in one day, so think of this as your day off..."

Katrina returned the smile, but then remembered her many haunting dreams and wondered why she didn't have another one to wake up to this morning.

Piccolo saw her smile fade and whispered against her forehead, "Don't worry about it today, you don't have to worry about it today."

Katrina closed her eyes and fell into his words. "But tomorrow—"

"No buts." Piccolo interrupted. "You don't have to worry."

She wished that it were that simple, but she knew that Piccolo would rather knock her out and not worry about her vision than see her mope, so she tried her best to sink the feeling. Surprisingly, it worked better than she thought. But she still wanted to say something. "Piccolo...whatever happens tomorrow...I just—"

But he surprisingly placed a finger on her lips to silence her. "You're still worrying." He replied, cracking a small smile. His finger gently traced her bottom lip, making all of Katrina's nerves tingle uncontrollably.

Katrina's heart pounded furiously, and she was so close to him that she could feel his going even faster. She suddenly noticed that she had been stroking his jaw line with her thumb repetitively for the passed few minutes.

Unconsciously, she began leaning up towards his face until they were only inches apart. They stared at each other for a long time, neither making a move yet both of them expecting the other to say something.

"Piccolo..." She barely breathed his name, but they both heard it as clear as crystal. Her eyelids were beginning to close as she felt his hot breath on her nose. "I...I..." She stammered mutely. She couldn't think of anything else to say, not like in her daydreams from long ago when it was a romantic moment. But she didn't care, this was the only daydream that was ever going to come true.

"Morning guys!"

Both Piccolo and Katrina jumped out of their skin. They both snapped to attention and gazed over at the now 5 year old sitting across from them. Gohan still looked like he was half asleep, but his perky voice told them otherwise. "Is it time to train yet?"

"Gohan, we're sort of—"

"Yes, it's time." Piccolo cut her short. Katrina gave him a confused glance, to which he answered, _I said it was your day off, I didn't say it was Gohan's or mine._ He told her silently._ Besides, we can't let him think that this day is any different from any other day, otherwise he'll get suspicious._

_I guess you're right._ She answered, a little disappointed. She had wanted to spend the entire day with Piccolo, knowing what was in store for them tomorrow. She tried to hide her disappointment as best as she could, but he still sensed it.

"Why don't you go stretch in the clearing, I'll be there in a minute." He told Gohan, who scampered off to do as he was told. He turned back towards Katrina with a small smile. _Don't worry, I won't be gone for long._ He gently brushed a small strand of hair out of her face, stood up and walked over towards the clearing, his cape swishing behind him as he walked.

Katrina hugged her knees to her chest and watched him warm up with Gohan. She watched him smile proudly at Gohan when he managed to get a few hits in, and realized how much she loved his smile. Tears were coming to her eyes when she realized that after tomorrow, she would no longer see that same smile...she wouldn't feel his arms around her...

She was sobbing now, but sobbing quietly. Piccolo must have been concentrating hard because he didn't even give her a glance. _He's doing so much to prepare for this fight, _She thought. _If only he knew it would all be a waste...and because of me._

She suddenly calmed down and stared at her beloved companion. She knew what she had to do.

Piccolo hadn't even realized how much time had gone by sparring, but when it was over, it seemed to be pretty late in the day. He had taken off his turban and shoulder weights before, but he picked them up to take over to the campsite.

"Hey Piccolo!" Gohan suddenly called out to him. He came out from the campsite and hurried over towards him.

"What is it, kid?"

"Did Katrina go off to get dinner?" He asked. Piccolo kept walking towards the campsite with Gohan on his heels.

"I don't think so, she probably would have told me." Piccolo answered, suddenly getting a strong feeling in his gut.

When he reached the clearing, he understood why.

Katrina was gone.

Piccolo's arms went numb, so his turban and shoulder weights slipped to the ground. The sudden crash of their weight made Gohan jump and look over at his stunned teacher. "Piccolo...?"

His mouth was open slightly from the shock, but the shock faded and he bowed his head. "She's gone..." He muttered while raising his head. "And she's not coming back."

He walked over to the tree and rested a hand on it to keep his balance. When he touched its rough bark, her message flooded his mind: _I'm sorry..._

Piccolo could feel his eyes burning, so he quickly shut them.

"Why did she leave? I thought she was happy with us..." Gohan said more to himself than to his teacher, but he had a reply anyway.

He sharply turned around and practically roared, "Because she's a coward, that's why!!!" He turned back his back to the tree and slid down to the ground. He had to struggle to keep the tears from falling, so his entire body trembled intensely.

Gohan lowered his eyes to the ground and watched his feet kick a small dirt clod. "I don't think she's a coward..."

Piccolo remained silent for a long moment, then he replied. "Neither do I..."

Katrina collapsed beside a river bank, exhausted and sobbing. She thought running away would have been easy on her aching heart, but instead it only made it worse. She had been running north for hours, fearing that if she flew, he would sense her and come after her.

She was still wondering if he would come and get her when her stomach growled loudly. She hadn't eaten anything all day, so she was starving after all that running.

She tried to stand up, but when she did, her ankle twisted the wrong way. She yelped and fell back on the ground hard. She was about to take her boot off when she heard someone coming through the forest. _I guess he did come after me..._ She thought and was about to call out when someone else came through the woods.

"Um...hi..." She said quietly, not knowing what else to say.

"Hello," He said simply. "What are you doing out in the woods?"

"I was...um—"

"Hey Tien, did you find something?" Another male voice came out of the woods, and soon he was by the river as well.

"More like a someone." The first one replied.

They both stared at Katrina for a moment as if expecting to explain herself, then the second man spoke. "Are you one of the saiyans?" He asked harshly.

"No...at least I don't think so..." She said, standing up again. Her ankle was still sore, but she managed to find her balance. "How do you know about the saiyans?"

"How do _you_ know about them?" He replied.

"I was training with two people to help stop them." Katrina answered.

"Wait a second," The first man stepped in front of the second man. "You're Katrina, aren't you? The girl that Krillin told us about up at the tower."

Katrina nodded, relaxing her tensed muscles. _If they know Krillin, then they must be on our side._

"Sorry about that, we're just keeping ourselves on our toes. It's almost been a year since Goku died. I'm Tien, and that's Yamcha." He pointed to the second man with the long black hair.

"Hey, aren't you supposed to be training with Piccolo and Gohan?" Yamcha asked.

Katrina hesitated. Just hearing his name made her heart ache. "Yeah, but...I took off."

"You mean you just left?" Tien asked.

"Was Piccolo's training really that bad?" Yamcha laughed, but stopped himself short when he saw that he was the only one laughing.

Katrina bowed her head sadly. "I 't stay there."

Tien could sense that she had had a rough time, so he changed the subject. "Well, you must be hungry, I could hear your stomach from the woods. C'mon." He turned around and walked back into the forest. Katrina followed with a slight limp, for her ankle still hurt. Yamcha walked behind her.

They ate and talked, and Tien and Yamcha explained everything that Piccolo didn't. They told her about their friend Goku, who was Piccolo's worst enemy, and how with the dragon balls, they were going to bring him back to life.

"So these dragon balls can grant any wish?" She asked them. They nodded, and nodded again when she asked, "Even bringing the dead back to life?"

"Yup. But there is one problem..."

"What?"

"You see, the person who created the dragon balls, Kami, is connected to them, so if he dies, then we can't use the dragon balls—"

"Is he fighting the saiyans?" She asked.

"No, but Piccolo is."

Katrina was confused. "What's that got to do with anything?"

"He never told you?" Tien asked, and Katrina shook her head. "Piccolo is connected with Kami, so if Piccolo dies, then Kami dies and then the dragon balls turn to stone."

Katrina couldn't breathe after she heard that. It seemed like her head was swimming in a pool of darkness, because she couldn't see or hear anything.

"Um...Katrina, are you ok?" Yamcha asked, waving a hand in front of her blank eyes.

She suddenly stood up. "I've got to go."

"Wait a second!" Yamcha said but it was too late. Katrina had already started running off into the darkness of the forest.

Behind her shoulder, she called out, "I'll see you guys tomorrow!!" Then she was gone.

Tien and Yamcha blinked and looked at each other. "Tomorrow?"

The sun was setting behind the mountains very slowly, almost as if it knew what tomorrow brought. Piccolo had been meditating on and off for the rest of the day, pondering over whether he should find Katrina or not. By the end of the day, he gave up and just sat there, pretending to be meditating so Gohan wouldn't question him.

He had told Gohan to get a good night's sleep, so he was already resting by the time the sun melted behind the mountains. He sighed deeply, wondering if he would ever see the black tailed teen again. He still had no idea what her vision was about, but he knew if had to be dead serious if it would make her run away.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps coming from the woods. His ears twitched as he opened his eyes and gazed upon a sight which he thought he would never see again. He watched as Katrina stumbled towards him out of the forest that surrounded the clearing. She appeared exhausted.

Piccolo stood up and took a few steps towards her, not sure if he was dreaming or not.

Katrina stopped a few feet in front of him and just stared at him while she caught her breath.

"I thought I'd never see you again..." Piccolo finally spoke.

But Katrina's tone was harsher. "Why didn't you ever tell me?!"

"Tell you what?" Piccolo said, taken aback.

"Why didn't you tell me about Kami and the dragon balls?!" She asked, her voice cracking.

"I did tell you about the dragon balls, I told you that they could grant wishes—"

"If you die tomorrow, then Kami dies and the dragon balls turn to stone!" Katrina ignored his last statement to get her point across. "How could you not tell me that?!"

Piccolo sighed. "I didn't want you to worry, I don't want anyone worrying. I can take care of myself." He turned back around and started towards the campsite again.

Katrina could tell that he was hurt, but she was the one without information. But nonetheless, she gave in and followed him, limping on her now swollen ankle. "Piccolo wait."

He stopped and turned back around. "Who told you?" He asked softly.

"Tien and Yamcha. They found me when I was near a river." She answered. Then she changed the subject back. "I just wish that you would have told me..."

"Why, does it help your vision at all?"

Katrina bowed her head. "No, it actually makes it worse." She whispered. "I just thought...that I should have heard it from you. I don't want there to be so many secrets between us." She could have kicked herself after saying that.

"No secrets, huh?" Piccolo's tone was ice cold now. "All right, fine. Yes, I am connected with Kami and yes, if I die tomorrow, then he'll die and the dragon balls will turn to stone. There's my secret, now you tell me yours! Tell me your vision if there are no more secrets!" He demanded, baring his sharp fangs as he spoke.

Katrina could feel her throat tightening and her eyes burning. "That's not fair."

"What's not fair is how you're treating this whole matter!" Piccolo shouted. "You're hurting yourself and you're hurting me by not telling me." He paused, letting his words sink deep into the ground. "Are you going to tell me or not?"

Katrina bowed her head. "No...no Piccolo, I can't tell you." She stared back up at him, straining herself so that no tears would fall.

"Then why did you come back?" Piccolo asked bluntly. "Staying here and fighting isn't going to help stop your vision—"

"And leaving isn't going to stop the pain that I feel!" Katrina snapped back. "You told me that no matter what I do to help prevent something, it'll only lead to the same outcome—"

"That doesn't mean you shouldn't try and stop it, Kat..." Piccolo replied.

"I am going to try." She said firmly. "But I'm still going to fight. I thought I could run away but it only made me feel worse." She decided to walk closer towards him. He didn't move, he only watched as she neared him. "I didn't want to make it look like this year was a total waste because it wasn't. This has been the best year of my life for a number of reasons, but what made it worth while was that I spent it with you."

Piccolo was speechless. He could only stare down at the teen in front of him. "Do you really mean that?" He asked after his sudden silence.

Katrina nodded. "If I had the chance to go back in time...I would have done everything the same. My only regret is that I didn't get to meet you sooner..."

In one quick movement, she was in his arms in a tight embrace. They held each other for a long time until it seemed that their arms would fall off if they held on any longer. Still without a word, Piccolo led her back to the campsite.

He sat down first and dragged Katrina down with him so she could sit against his chest. He held his arms loosely around her waist but she still snuggled as close as possible to him. Piccolo laid his cheek on the top of her head and remained silent for a long time.

Finally, he broke the silence with a voice a little below a whisper. "Kat?"

"Yeah?" She mumbled sleepily.

"I'm glad you came back." His lips brushed her forehead as he whispered.

"I am too." She replied, falling fast asleep soon after.

Piccolo smiled and soon joined her in sleep, his smile remaining for most of the night.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

An eerie silence flooded the clearing and all of its surroundings that morning. There were no birds or animals about, which was very odd indeed. Even the nearby waterfall seemed quieter.

Piccolo was the first to awaken, sensing the unusual calm of the clearing. Katrina still resided in his arms, his grasp tighter than what he remembered from the night before. Gohan also must have sensed something was wrong in his sleep for he was using Piccolo's leg as a pillow.

He stared down at the girl in his arms grimly. He rested a gentle hand on her head and smoothed her hair slightly. He sighed deeply. "I'm sorry, Katrina, I really am..."

Katrina awoke and could already tell that she had been moved. She opened her eyes and sat up from the dusty ground. She gazed around and saw that she was surrounded by mountains and a stretching desert. "What happened?" She mumbled, very confused. "Where am I?"

"The saiyans probably won't show much regard for the surroundings, so I moved you here."

Katrina twisted around and saw Piccolo standing behind her. He held out a hand and helped her stand up. "You could have woken me up." Katrina replied.

"I could have, but you probably wouldn't have let me carry you." Piccolo answered with a coy smile.

Katrina blushed lightly. "It depends: would we have been alone?" She took one of his big hands into her own and began tracing his fingers.

Piccolo shook his head. "No, Gohan was awake by the time I decided to move."

"How long have you been awake?"

"Before sunrise. Something just made me stay awake."

Katrina looked up at the sun and noticed that it was about 9:00. She returned her eyes to his concernedly. "You must be tired...do you—?"

But Piccolo interrupted her. "I'll be fine. My nerves are too jumpy to make me feel exhausted." He said with a smile.

Katrina returned it doubtfully. Piccolo could sense it and rested his forehead on hers. He grasped her hand tightly and smiled. "I'm ok."

She stared at him a long time before finally smiling. "Ok." She simply replied. She squeezed his hand gently before releasing it. She turned around and took a few steps to remove the kinks from her joints. She peered over at Gohan, who was huddled against a rock, hugging his knees to his chest.

Piccolo stepped by her side. "I had to tell him, there was no point in keeping it a secret anymore."

"Yeah..." Katrina murmured, still looking at Gohan. _He shouldn't be here...he's too young..._

_It's too late now, they'll be coming in a few hours._ He replied. He squeezed her shoulder affectionately, then walked to another part of the area and sat down.

Katrina gulped and grasped the jewel around her neck tightly. A brisk breeze blew by, making some of the sand rise in small clouds around her feet. She turned around to gaze at Piccolo, who sat against a smaller mountain. His eyes were closed, but Katrina could tell that he wasn't under meditation just yet.

She walked over towards him, and as soon as she reached him, he opened his eyes and looked up at her. Without a word spoken between them, he patted his knee and she sat down in his lap. He rested his chin on her shoulder and wrapped his arms around her waist. They both stared off into the distance for some time, neither speaking a word.

The minutes passed slowly into hours, the feeling in the pit of their stomachs growing more painful and unbearable. Katrina tried to hide her discomfort, but Piccolo could sense it easily. He kept his emotions open so she knew that she wasn't the only one.

Katrina turned her head to look down at Piccolo. "Are they going to land here?"

Piccolo shrugged. "Probably not."

"Then how will they find us?"

"Don't worry, they'll have no problem finding us." Piccolo explained. "They have these machines that can locate power levels because they can't sense them like us."

Katrina nodded her head understandingly, but the answer didn't really make her feel better. Piccolo was easily aware of it. "Kat, everything will be fine." He raised his hand and gently cupped her cheek. "I promise..."

She stared down at him with wavering eyes. "Piccolo..." She began leaning downward again, her eyes slowly closing.

Suddenly, a huge gust of wind interrupted them. Their eyes snapped open and they looked at each other fearfully. Katrina quickly stood up off of Piccolo's lap, allowing him to get to his feet.

Katrina and Piccolo stood, staring at the direction of where the wind was coming from. Gohan stood up as well and ran over towards his comrades. He clung to Katrina's leg nervously, also knowing what was going to come in a matter of moments. Piccolo rested a hand on Katrina's shoulder and squeezed it, a silent signal of his presence.

Katrina let out a deep breath that she had been holding in for the past year. "There're coming..."

The city was crowded, as it usually was this time of day. The cars honked but didn't go anywhere; the passing people stared into windows of shops and entered them to browse. The dogs with masters barked at one another while the homeless ones searched the garbage cans in the alleys for any scraps of food.

But no one, during their city routine, happened to look up at the sky. It was a perfect day, so no one really had a reason to. No one except a little girl.

Doing two things at once can be an easy task for most people, but for a seven year old girl, it was like trying to sit still after eating a bowl of sugar. She was walking along, an ice cream cone in one hand, the other holding a big green balloon she had just received. Her mother walked alongside, chatting away to her husband on her cell phone.

The seven year old was having a bit of a problem carrying two things at once, and finally, her balloon slipped out of her hand. She looked up desperately and tried to reach of the renegade green balloon. But in a blink of an eye, it was long gone.

Tears began to flood down her rosy cheeks as she saw her balloon disappear into the blue sky. Her mother told her to quiet down and then she continued to talk of future plans for that evening.

Suddenly, the little girl spotted something in the sky. Something she knew that shouldn't be there. She was just about to leave it alone when she saw a second one next to it. Both were coming down fast. She tugged on her mother's pink dress and pointed to the sky when she got her attention.

The mother looked up at the two dots in the sky and watched with wide blue eyes as they came closer and closer. When she let out her scream, the surrounding people looked up at quickly scattered, not knowing where the objects would fall.

Then the former dots in the sky crashed with a loud and deafening boom. It left a rather large crater in the middle of the street that seemed deep enough to fill it with water and call it a lake.

One by one, the surrounding humans gathered around the crater slowly and cautiously. They peered down at the strange devices and wondered what exactly could be in them. They didn't have to wait long to find out. What appeared to be doors popped out of the spherical UFOs, and a few beeping noises were heard from inside.

The first one to step out was a large, beastly man tightly packed with more muscles than any ordinary human. His eyes were dark and blank, and his head held no hair at all except a black mustache under his wide nose. He wore the most peculiar fashion, clothes that appeared to be armor of some sort and a fur belt. On each of his arms were bands that started from mid-forearm to his wrist with a small piece hooked on his thumb. He wore a strange device on his ear with what looked like a small computer, transparent computer screen with a blue tint. It completely covered his right eye. He easily towered any of the humans by five feet or so and could just as easily crush them with his 500 pounds of muscle.

The second one to come out was a fly compared to the first man. He stood about five feet or so, but his hair added another half a foot to him. His ensemble was similar to the big man's, yet it wasn't exactly the same. His hair was as black as midnight and his skin was lightly tanned, showing that had traveled to many places. His worse white gloves and also had the same device on his ear with a red screen. His was also very muscular, but he was still a tack to the big dog beside him. But something was different about him. His eyes were completely blank, as if capable of showing no emotion at all. There was something darker about him than his partner, and even the humans surrounding the crater could sense that.

The smaller one looked over at his partner with a smirk. "Earth was it? Promising..."

"We should greet the little insects..." The big dog replied, returning the evil grin. Suddenly, he raised his two fingers and the city erupted from below in a huge explosion.

When the smoke cleared, there was nothing left of the city. Everyone and everything was completely wiped out.

All the big one could do was laugh. "Little too warm a greeting, eh Vegeta?"

"End it there, Nappa," The little one replied. "You'll destroy the resale value of this dust ball if you keep messing it up."

"Good point. And before we sell anything, we're going to find those balls that'll get us a wish granted!" Nappa replied.

"Dragon balls, Nappa." Vegeta corrected. "The one who killed Raditz will know where they are. And if it turns out one of those balls was around here, we may have to forget about our wish for eternal life...all because of your stupid greeting!"

"Oops, you're right. I wasn't thinking..."

"When do you ever think?!" Vegeta exclaimed. "Oh never mind, just search for the highest power reading on this planet. He'll have to be the one who killed Raditz, unless it's Kakarrot's son..." Vegeta clicked the button on the machine on his ear. Numbers of a strange language flashed on the screen. Nappa did the same.

"Vegeta, there's something strange here. There are readings over 1000, more than one of them! But how, in a backwater like this...?"

"Don't worry about it." Vegeta said confidently. "They're not our enemies. Just look for the one with the highest reading..." Then the numbers stopped. "There! Three high readings and they're right near each other. Let's go pay our respects, Nappa..."

And like nothing, they took to the air and flew off.

And so the battle begins...


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

On a strange, winding road, a man wearing an orange gi with black spiky hair ran as fast as he could. The puffy, yellow clouds passed him quickly as he sped down what looked like a dragon's back. He panted heavily but couldn't stop no matter what. "Hang on, guys, I'm coming!"

Vegeta and Nappa landed in the mountains shortly after their arrival. They had seen where the three warriors had made camp and landed in front of them. They made their observations quickly, noting that one was a child, one was a Namekian, and the other was a girl.

The short one's eyes shifted over towards his comrade. "It appears that they've been expecting us."

Piccolo decided to take his chance. He stepped in front of Katrina and Gohan and clenched his fists. "What exactly do you want here?"

Vegeta's eye snapped towards the Namekian. "Ah, that voice. It was you who killed Raditz, wasn't it?"

Katrina's eyes shifted towards Piccolo. _Who's Raditz?_

_He was one of the saiyans that came to earth before these two._ Piccolo replied silently.

Nappa had remained quiet for the short amount of time but he finally spoke up. "Hey Vegeta, look at the girl."

Piccolo instinctively growled and tried to remove her completely from their sight, but Katrina was curious as to what they had to say.

"What about her, Nappa?"

"Look at her face. Are my eyes goin' bad or are those the markings of the Dark Clan?"

Vegeta took a good, hard look for the first time, then smirked. "Your eyes are fine, Nappa. Those _are_ the markings...they'd have to be." Then his eyes lowered. Katrina could feel his gaze trace her body. "It looks like you've gotten rid of your tail, though. It was good thinking, but you still can't get rid of those horrible tribal markings of yours. You still stick out like a revolting sore thumb."

Piccolo's growls grew louder, but Katrina stepped out from behind him. "Do you know what I am?"

Vegeta eyed her harshly. "So she can speak!" He mocked. "Why girl, don't you even know what you are?"

"Probably not, since she hasn't started running yet!" Nappa laughed.

"It looks like you really are confused, and since we're here, we might as well tell you." Vegeta began. "You girl, are the last remaining member of an abomination known as the Dark Clan, or the Black Tailed Saiyans if you prefer. You were evolved from us, which should have been a great accomplishment. But instead, you were nothing more than a waste of flesh and blood! We banished you off of our superior planet, and then we destroyed the entire clan...or so we thought..."

"She looks young, so we probably missed a couple of them." Nappa added.

"Yes, well, no matter. Once we have those Dragon Balls and our eternal life, we can comb the galaxy for them." Vegeta turned his attention towards the three fighters. "So if you could just hand over the dragon balls, we could get started..."

"We'll never tell you where they are, you're just wasting your time." Piccolo answered, getting into the fighting stance that Gohan and Katrina had seen many times before. Gohan slowly shifted into his, his entire frame trembling.

Katrina eyes the two warriors in front of her. Her fear slowly sunk and her anger rose. _Nothing is impossible._ She thought, turning into her fighting stance. _I have to stop them from killing Piccolo...at any costs..._

"Why you slug! How dare you talk to—" Nappa was cut short when a few more numbers dazzled his scouter. Vegeta's was scanning as well. They looked up at the sky as three people landed down next to Katrina.

"I hope we're not too late to join in." Tien said. Yamcha and Krillin stood next to him.

Piccolo shifted his eyes towards the new group. "Glad you finally showed up. Are you here to watch the real fighters?"

Krillin laughed. "I wish that was why, but I'm here for a reason bigger than that."

"Well, if this is everyone, we can finally get started." Vegeta turned his head towards Nappa. "Bring out the Cultivar seeds, Nappa."

"You love to play games, don't you Vegeta?" Nappa replied as he pulled a small bottle out from underneath his armor. He took out the seeds and popped six of them into the ground, then sprinkled what looked like water on top of the seeds. Within a matter of moments, the ground where the seeds were planted began to bulge up, and six small creatures rose from the ground. They screeched at each other in a language that no one could understand.

"There. Six Cultivars for six warriors. Each of you can have one...for sporting purposes."

"Quit playing around and let's finish this!!" Piccolo replied. Katrina stared in shock at his response.

Surprisingly, Krillin spoke up. "No, this could work! Goku's not here yet!" Piccolo remained silent.

Tien, seeing the open opportunity, stepped up. "Fine, I'll go first."

Vegeta glared down at one of the cultivars. He kicked the one in front of him and ordered, "You take this one, and give him everything you've got."

The cultivar screeched loudly, as if to swear at the kicker, but these things were not as stupid as everyone thought. It knew what kind of power they had, so it quickly trotted forward towards Tien.

Tien smashed his firsts together and smirked. "Come at me."

Right on cue, the cultivar flew towards the three eyed man, screaming wildly. Katrina could feel Tien's energy rising as he threw his hand out in front of him and yelled. Almost instantly, the cultivar flew back from an invisible punch and landed a few feet in front of the saiyans.

It got back on its feet quickly. Tien was about to throw another when the cultivar's head split open and a green, steaming liquid shot out at Tien. He dodged it quickly, but the liquid continued on towards the other fighters.

Piccolo quickly grabbed Katrina and moved her out of the way. Krillin jumped to the other side as the liquid landed and instantly created a long crater wherever it touched ground. The ground sizzled afterwards.

"Acid..." Piccolo mumbled. "Strong enough to kill anything it touches."

Katrina couldn't help but stare at the sizzling ground where she had just stood. Overwhelming panic came over her, but it slowly faded as she realized that Piccolo was staring at her. She returned his gaze confusingly. His look was odd. It wasn't a scowl, which is what she expected and probably deserved, but it wasn't a smile either. It was a decisive look.

After a moment, his lips curled in a very small smile. Anyone else who was looking probably wouldn't have seen it, but Katrina certainly did. He reached out and squeezed her hand quickly, then returned his attention to the game.

Katrina watched him for another moment or two, then also continued to push her fear down to her feet.

The cultivar was coming at Tien again, but this time Tien easily elbowed it in the face. It flew backwards, and landed hard on the ground. It stayed still for a long moment.

Nappa was stunned. "How...how did that happen?!"

But Vegeta could only smirk. "It appears that we will be entertained after all."

"That's impossible, each of those cultivars has a power level of 1200, equal to Raditz!"

"But his power remains greater still." Vegeta replied. His eyes shifted to the cultivar, who was slowly attempting the stand back up.

Without a word, Vegeta pointed two fingers at the cultivar and it instantly exploded from the inside out. For that small instance, Katrina and Piccolo both sensed a tremendous, dark power come from the smaller saiyan. She caught Piccolo's hand fearfully as she gazed upon what used to be the shrieking cultivar. Now, it was only a pile of skin and insides.

"Completely destroyed with a gesture..." Piccolo mumbled unbelievably. An overwhelming silence entered like a harsh wind as the fighters individually realized what they had gotten themselves into.


End file.
